Functional Communication Training for Problem Behavior

Children and adolescents with moderate and severe disabilities often have communication challenges that lead them to use problem behavior to convey their desires. This is the most comprehensive contemporary volume on functional communication training (FCT)--the individualized instructional approach that teaches a child socially acceptable communicative alternatives to aggression, tantrums, self-injury, and other unconventional behaviors. The expert authors provide accessible, empirically based guidelines for implementing FCT, and tips for overcoming obstacles. Grounded in the principles of applied behavior analysis, the book includes detailed strategies for developing a support plan, together with illustrative case examples.
 

Joe Reichle, PhD, is Professor of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences at the University of Minnesota, Principal Investigator and Director of the University’s Leadership and Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Training Program, and a Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. His research focuses on augmentative communication, communication intervention for persons with significant developmental disabilities, and positive approaches to meet the needs of persons who engage in challenging problem behavior. Dr. Reichle has published over 130 articles, chapters, and books, and has served as Associate Editor of the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research and Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools. He has extensive experience delivering technical assistance to public schools and group homes.
 
David P. Wacker, PhD, is Professor of Pediatric Psychology at the University of Iowa, where he directs biobehavioral outpatient services for children and adults with developmental disabilities who display severe problem behavior, such as self-injury.  He has served as Editor of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and is a Fellow of the Association for Behavior Analysis International and the American Psychological Association. Since the 1990s, Dr. Wacker's research has focused on training parents to implement FCT in their homes or community settings, with a current interest in the use of telehealth. 

1. Introduction to Functional Communication Training
2. The Selection of Communicative Function(s) to Teach and How They Are Expressed
3. An Integrative Model to Establish Communicative Alternatives and Enhance Self-Regulatory Skills
4. Examples of Antecedent-Focused Intervention Strategies
5. Teaching Communicative Protesting as an Alternative to Avoidance-Maintained Problem Behavior, with Quannah Parker-McGowan and Jeff Sigafoos
6. Teaching Requesting Assistance
7. Requesting a Break
8. Teaching Communicative Requests as an Alternative to Problem Behavior Maintained by Attention
9. Teaching Communicative Requests as an Alternative to Problem Behavior Maintained by Tangibles
10. Describing Functional Communication Training as a Component of an Effective Behavior Support Plan: What We Know and What We Still Need to Know
Glossary
References
Index