This module is not currently running in 2024 to 2025.
The curriculum will include:
Introduction to functional assessment
Personal, social, family, medical and treatment history
Interviewing staff and service users
Using checklists and questionnaires
Gathering observational data
Analysis of the social and physical environment
Mediator analysis
Challenging behaviour and the 4-term contingency
Challenging behaviour and communication
Social, cognitive, biological, emotional and psychiatric factors contributing to challenging behaviour.
Total contact hours: 28
Private study hours: 122
Total study hours: 150
Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Foundation Degree
Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities BSc
Positive Behaviour Support diploma
Main assessment methods
Assignment – 100%
Reassessment methods
Like-for-like
Emerson, E. (2001) Challenging behaviour: Analysis and intervention in people with severe intellectual disabilities (2nd ed.), Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
McGill, P., Clare, I. C. H., & Murphy, G. H. (1996) Understanding and responding to challenging behaviour: From theory to practice. Tizard Learning Disability Review, 1, 9-17.
O'Neill, R. E. et al.(1997) Functional assessment and program development for problem behavior: A practical handbook (2nd ed.), Pacific Groves, CA, Brooks/Cole.
Sigafoos, J., Arthur, M. and O'Reilly, M. (2003) Challenging Behaviour and Developmental Disability, London, Whurr Publishers.
Willis, T. J., LaVigna, G. W. and Donnellan, A. M. (1993) Behavior Assessment Guide, Los Angeles, Institute for Applied Behavior Analysis.
See the library reading list for this module (Canterbury)
The intended subject specific learning outcomes.
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
8.1 Give a rationale for using functional assessment.
8.2 Gather information relevant to functional assessment from records, questionnaires, observation and interview
8.3 Use a framework for assessment which leads to:
• Operational descriptions of behaviour;
• Analysis of the contribution of personal, family, medical and treatment history to challenging behaviour;
• Analysis of the contribution of the social and physical environment to challenging behaviour;
• Antecedent and consequence analyses;
• Reinforcement and mediator analyses;
• Analysis of the contribution of communication, social, cognitive, biological, emotional and psychiatric factors to challenging behaviour.
The intended generic learning outcomes.
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
9.1 Have prepared a written assignment which shows their capacity to draw on both published work and their own experience
9.2 Have demonstrated their ability to understand, and communicate in writing, abstract concepts
9.3 Work collaboratively in a group with other practitioners.
9.4 Compared and contrast the merits of alternative interventions/solutions
9.5 Have continued to combine the demands of work and study by successfully meeting deadlines for the completion of academic
assignments
9.6 Have continued to use information technology (word processing, email, internet use) to meet the demands of the programme)
9.7 Have developed further their ability to summarise and graphically represent data
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