A Practical Guide to Functional Assessment and Treatment for Severe Problem Behavior

A Practical Guide to Functional Assessment and Treatment for Severe Problem Behavior discusses how to utilize functional assessment and function-based treatment for patients with severe problem behaviors. The book begins by defining problem behavior, contrasting functional and structural definitions, and clearly reviewing the term “severe”. The second section, Functional Assessment of Problem Behavior, reviews three different assessments in detail, providing sample questionnaires, methods for interviewing and brief bonus videos. The third section, Function-Based Treatments, outlines three main treatment options, including comprehensive and trauma-informed strategies and outline information on collecting, graphing, and analyzing treatment data.

The final section, Promoting Sustainability and Compassionate Care will review strategies to implement these assessments and treatments in a culturally relevant and compassionate way.

• Details various examples of indirect assessments methods, including interviews and questionnaires
• Addresses the integration and testing of hypotheses from indirect and descriptive assessments into functional analyses
• Reviews treatments based on a trauma-informed framework
• Outlines common ethical issues, including strategies to use when function-based treatments do not work and the management of restrictive practices
• Includes bonus brief vignettes to illustrate procedures and assessments

Professor Joshua Jessel is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the Applied Disabilities Studies, Brock University where he supervises undergraduate, Masters and Doctoral-level students in ABA research. He obtained his MS at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where he worked with individuals who exhibited severe problem behavior on the neurobehavioral inpatient unit of the Kennedy Krieger Institute; he earned his PhD at Western New England University with a primary focus on the assessment and treatment of problem behavior with autistic children. Prof. Jessel specializes in the assessment and treatment of severe problem behavior and other applications of Applied Behavior Analysis. He has recently co-edited Elsevier’s A Practical Guide to Functional Assessment and Treatment for Severe Problem Behavior.

Dr. Peter Sturmey is a retired professor of psychology who remains active in research and writing. He is affiliated with Queens College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York; Brock University, Ontario; and Endicott University, Massachusetts. Prof. Sturmey brings more than three decades of research experience in Applied Behavior Analysis, including teaching and supervising master and doctoral-level ABA student research.