A Critical Analysis of Functional Assessment: Issues for Researchers and Practitioners

Abstract

This article addresses the use of an analytical approach to making treatment decisions known as functional assessment. The usefulness of functional assessment with students with emotional/behavioral disorders is predicated on the assumption that the effectiveness of treatment increases if it matches the function of the target behavior(s). Discussion covers both indirect and direct measures of the relationship between the target behavior and variables that may be maintaining the behavior. Strategies for selecting and verifying hypothesis-driven treatment decisions are presented. In that the accumulated research has failed to dislodge some stumbling blocks to the use of functional assessment, several methodological solutions are offered for researchers and practitioners.