FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT IN BEHAVIORAL CONSULTATION - A TREATMENT UTILITY STUDY

The primary purpose of the study was to examine the utility of functio nal assessment in comparison to a technological approach to treatment. Specifically, we investigated the treatment utility of functional ass essment within a behavioral consultation framework to determine the ef fect of different uses of assessment data on child treatment outcome. Participants consisted of 19 preschool children enrolled in a Head Sta rt program who demonstrated social and/or behavioral problems in the c lassroom. Their classroom teachers participated in the study as consul tees who received help from trained consultants in identifying target behaviors and implementing classroom-based interventions. Participants were randomly assigned to two conditions: a consultation approach uti lizing functional assessment methods to develop individualized behavio ral interventions, or a consultation approach that used nonfunctional analytic assessment methods and a standard treatment package of self-h elp materials. The outcomes of the individual consultation cases were analyzed with case study methodology to determine behavior change and, in general, consultation resulted in positive treatment outcomes that were moderate in magnitude. There were no significant differences fou nd between the two groups on the outcomes variables of treatment effec ts, consumer satisfaction, or costs; however, consultants expressed a preference for using functional assessment methodology due to perceive d improved consultation relationships. Consultees from both groups pro vided satisfactory treatment acceptability ratings and good overall ra tings of satisfaction with consultation services. Implications regardi ng the generalizability of this study's results to other populations a re discussed, as well as directions for further research in the areas of functional analysis and behavioral consultation.