Integrating Client and Implementer Preferences During Functional Communication Training with Discriminative Stimuli.

Area of Science:

• Behavior analysis
• Applied behavior analysis
• Clinical psychology

Background:

• Functional communication training (FCT) is used to address socially reinforced challenging behaviors.
• FCT involves teaching clients appropriate communication to access maintaining reinforcers.
• Treatment signals can enhance FCT practicality by indicating when requests are honored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide a tutorial on collaborating with consumers for FCT with discriminative stimuli.
• To highlight key areas for client and caregiver input in intervention design.
• To guide behavior analysts in personalizing FCT interventions.

Main Methods:

• The paper describes FCT with discriminative stimuli, utilizing multiple and chained schedules.
• It emphasizes soliciting input from clients, caregivers, and stakeholders.
• The tutorial focuses on collaborative design of signaled periods.

Main Results:

• FCT with discriminative stimuli effectively reduces reinforcement for challenging behavior.
• This approach maintains adaptive and challenging behavior at ideal levels.
• Collaboration ensures interventions are practical and personalized.

Conclusions:

• Behavior analysts can enhance FCT interventions through collaborative design.
• Client and caregiver input is crucial for successful FCT with discriminative stimuli.
• This tutorial offers practical guidance for implementing personalized FCT strategies.