Effects of familiar versus unfamiliar therapists on responding in the analog functional analysis

The analog functional analysis involves the manipulation of pre-determined antecedent and consequent events and typically is conducted by trained experimenters. Inclusion of idiosyncratic variables in the analog functional analysis may affect responding. Inclusion of caregivers is one potential antecedent that may affect problem behavior. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of including caregivers in the analog. Four individuals with developmental disabilities and their caregivers served as participants. For 3 of 4 participants, different patterns of responding were observed when caregivers versus experimenters conducted the functional analysis.