This is a how-to book, but not one designed for the clinician first learning about functional assessment of behavioural problems. Many resources are available to introduce the basic theoretical and practical aspects of positive behavioural management. Here, Crone and Horner provide a brief, clear description of functional-based behavioural assessment and intervention and address perhaps an even more challenging primary task, how to implement systems to provide positive behavioural support to students within the school context.
This book was spurred by staggering statistics on the prevalence of behavioural problems in schools, by the American legal requirement (embodied in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) to address them, and by the dearth of resources with which to do so. Citing evidence of the enhanced effectiveness of interventions that are based on functional behavioural assessment (FBA), Crone and Horner argue convincingly that what schools need are trained, well-organized teams that can assess and intervene rapidly with problem behaviours as they arise. They propose a field-tested model by which this can be accomplished.
The authors acknowledge that the use of FBA technology requires a philosophical shift for most educators. The FBA approach entails the identification of factors that foster inappropriate behaviours and the rearrangement of conditions within the environment both to reduce problem behaviours and to build a repertoire of appropriate alternative skills. This is a dramatically different approach than that which has resulted, for example, in ‘zero tolerance’ policies in many school districts that dictate the suspension or expulsion of students with aggressive or other antisocial behaviours. Blanket application of these policies has often resulted in suspensions of students with developmental disabilities, whose aggressive behaviours can most frequently be ascribed to communication deficits. Rather than this prescriptive (and punitive) approach, behavioural support using FBA principles determines the purpose that inappropriate behaviour serves for a student before designing an inter-vention that meets those individual needs.
The book is extremely clearly written and logically presented. Ample references are provided to the empirical literature that supports the authors’ position, yet the book does not read as an abstract academic text. The professional reader who is versed in FBA methodology and who understands the school context can use this book to begin a systematic team approach to solving behavioural problems. Concrete examples are provided of the range of behavioural problems that can be addressed, of the steps required to address them, and the potential solutions generated by FBA. Thirty-six pages of forms are provided to assist in this process, although the limited copyright permission provided for these may pose an ethical challenge to the school-based teams to whom the book is directed. The real virtue of Crone and Horner’s model is the integration of empirically-grounded procedures with a realistic appreciation of school resources and routines.
I recommend this book highly to all professionals involved in mental health and behavioural management services to schools, and their administrators.