Corey, an 8-year-old boy with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), attended regular third-grade classes at his local elementary school. During various academic instruction, Corey frequently displayed disruptive behaviors that rarely occurred during the rest of the school day. Assessment and intervention involved a three-phase study. The first phase, a brief functional (analog) analysis, identified that Corey's disruptive behaviors were maintained by escape from task demands. The second phase, a curriculum-based assessment, identified that Corey's disruptive behavior occurred most frequently during specific seating and grouping arrangements. The third phase examined the effectiveness of an intervention derived from the assessments. Results showed an immediate reduction in disruptive behavior and an increase in appropriate behavior that lasted throughout the data collection period. The intervention received very high treatment acceptability ratings from the teaching staff.

The present article reports information resulting from a review of 19 articles reporting studies conducted in the 1990s with a total of 62 participants who were identified as having, or being at risk for, emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). Studies were included in this review only if (a) a functional assessment was conducted, (b) the participants were identified as having, or being at risk for, EBD, and (c) the study was published after 1989. Findings indicate that functional assessment research is being conducted with young children in special and general education settings with the use of single-case design methodologies. A review is made of the nine articles that reported findings from functional assessment-based intervention studies. The review suggests that antecedent-based interventions, primarily curricular modifications, are most often examined. Results indicate that present research methodology includes important components essential to making valid conclusions from outcomes, and in generalizing findings. Directions for future research are discussed.

Active responding (in the form of response cards) was employed during a math lecture in a third-grade classroom to evaluate its effect on disruptive behavior. Two conditions, conventional lecture with hand raising and response cards, were alternated in a reversal (ABA) design. During baseline, the teacher used a conventional lecture with hand raising method, which consisted primarily of lecturing and then asking one child who had raised his or her hand to answer a question. During the active responding (response card) condition, all the students had to respond to the teacher's question by writing an answer on individual cards. Disruptive behavior decreased dramatically when the response cards were used and increased again when the conventional hand raising method was reinstated.

Three adolescents (ages 14-17) with emotional and behavioral disorders displayed chronic disruptive behavior in their self-contained classrooms at a self-contained alternative school. A descriptive functional behavioral assessment was conducted for each student. Data from file review, structured interviews, and direct observations were used to identify the functions of their disruptive behaviors. Then, function-based interventions were systematically constructed for each student and implemented for an extended period (nearly 6 weeks) within the most problematic situation in their classrooms. The interventions improved each student's behavior and the effects maintained during follow-up and generalized to Instruction in a nonintervention classroom. Social validity data comparing the interventions to baseline practices revealed the function-based intervention had moderately higher social validity among teachers and substantially higher social validity among students.

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