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Research Paper - Interpreting Research

Students Name:

Instructor's Name:

Date of Submission:
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The intervention selected is Functional Communication Training (FCT). FCT

intervention is highly useful for teaching autistic children. In this paper, the researcher will

examine the procedures that explain how FCT works and how it is implemented. Furthermore,

four scholarly articles will be summarized pertaining to this intervention. For each article, it will

be described what the findings were, how they were interpreted, and some of the limitations of

these articles.

Article 1:

Three children with developmental problems who stayed in a residential rehabilitation

center underwent Functional Communication Training (FCT). An administration team at the

school selected these children for the research due to the failure of previous efforts to identify the

reason of their issue conduct or to educate them alternate communication methods. According to

an examination of the files of every participant, a variety of behavioral interventions were used

to try to reduce their frequencies of problematic conduct.

Throughout the baseline phase, all subjects displayed high rates of problematic behavior

(100 percent of trials), with no instances of the novel communication type. The revised style was

adopted by all children, and challenging behaviour decreased as a result of the intervention. It

has been found that FCT was able to replace problematic conduct with a communication strategy

that had a similar effect. When selecting how to administer the FCT intervention in the trial,

researchers used behavioral indication (i.e., visible behavior that indicates instantaneous

willingness) as a stimulus. Every child's data shows that the FCT intervention has been effective

in teaching a style of communication that is publicly appropriate to use. As proof of their

similarity, the structure of adoption of the alternative type and the decrease of problematic
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behavior may be seen. Whereas the statistics show that the intervention is beneficial, the

commonalities and variances of every student's acquired data need to be explained in further

detail.

One limitation of the research is the lack of data on maintenance and generalization. This

was gathered immediately after the conclusion of FCT and will not be indicative of how

effectively the communication type will hold up over extended spans of time (Schmidt et. al,

2014).

Article 2:

There were interviews with instructors at a developmentally impaired children's day

school and with the first four students who matched both of the preceding criteria: For every

hour in the session, they exhibited at least one problematic behavior and said no more than one

syllable. Two boys and two girls were selected depending on these parameters. Jim, Sue, Eve,

and Tom were all between the ages of thirteen and fourteen years old.

Functional Communication Training is successful in changing the factors that regulate

the behavior issues that may be taught to youngsters. Teaching kids how to communicate

effectively is an essential educational function because it teaches them to communicate

effectively in order to get help with their homework and get recognition for their outstanding

work. As a result, the child's position shifts from passive receiver to active participant. It is also

possible that the inquiry should be dropped and the child's vocal answer spontaneously spoken.

The present study on the use of functional communication training as a therapy for behavioral

issues focuses on this form of extemporaneous.

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It's worth noting that the researchers' technique will not work until the 2 versions are

functionally equivalent (Carr & Durand, 1985).

Article 3:

When this research began, Mary was four years, four months old. Mary's instructors

volunteered her for this research because she was unable to communicate verbally or sign.

Mary's medical results suggested that she could be autistic. During the 15-month trial period,

three different locations were used. Initially, it started in Mary's first school placement,

proceeded during the summer school program, and had finally finished in her current school

position.

This research found that educating young children with serious impairments by

identifying teaching possibilities and then instructing in natural settings is a good method for

creating an initial communication repertoire. There were six signs given to Mary, and she had

been able to learn all of them, despite the fact that one of her favorite activities, bubbles, lacked

its reinforcement value over time, and so the possibilities for instructing signs declined early on

through FCT. Despite the fact that Mary had been trained to complain by turning her head "no"

in reply to an unappetizing item being presented, no indication of generalized usage was found in

another demonstration circumstance when she had been taken to an unappetizing exercise. She

often yanked her hand free of the adult's or shouted when she was in this circumstance. Even if

these signs of dissent were understood as such, they were not replaced with headshakes. When it

came to this particular inquiry, the recently learned answer was not utilized. FCT was used to

replace non-challenging and delicate communication styles with more standard surface features

in this research. Like FCT attempts to replace difficult behavior, functional comparability and
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responsive contest were at work here. Characteristics that were substituted were more nuanced

and characteristic of communication actions in early childhood. An important part of

communication intervention is replacing such initial behavioral cues, which arise significantly

more often than difficult conduct.

The absence of generalized usage of Mary's recently learned protest is likewise worthy of

attention. Another potential reason for the newer complaint form's lack of widespread adoption

stems from a distinct understanding of Mary's communication repertoire (Drasgow, 1996).

Article 4:

For adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the review utilized quality factors

to analyze FCT trials and estimate the degree of evidence. Based on the researchers' appraisal of

six papers from a prior review, FCT has the potential to be a substantial proof approach. A

reasonable degree of proof was developed for FCT for adolescents with ASD between the ages

of one and eight after reviewing nine further publications found via research articles. Academic

and practical outcomes are presented.

A total of 29 children, ranging in age from two to eight, received FCT treatment in the 15

investigations. There were 63 percent of study participants aged 3 to 5, 36 percent aged 6 to 8,

and only 1 percent aged 0 to 2 years old. There had been a few clinical trials, but most of the

investigations were performed in relatively social settings, including schools (33%) or homes

(20%, or a mix of both, to aid adaptation) (7 percent).

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This research is performed on fewer of the articles. In order to promote FCT as an

evidence-based therapy for adolescents with ASD ages Zero to eight, further investigation is

required.

Conclusion:

Children may benefit from functional communication training. In order to attain a similar

goal, it seeks to replace challenging behavior with more suitable communication. Even

challenging behaviors might be seen as an opportunity for dialogue within FCT's purview. FCT

emphasizes the need to teach a kid a new method to communicate before attempting to modify a

child's unwanted behavior. Lacking either past or recent behavior, the youngster has no means of

communicating.
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References

Carr, E. G., & Durand, V. M. (1985). Reducing behavior problems through functional

communication training. Journal of applied behavior analysis, 18(2), 111-126.

Drasgow, E., Halle, J. W., Ostrosky, M. M., & Harbers, H. M. (1996). Using behavioral

indication and functional communication training to establish an initial sign repertoire with a

young child with severe disabilities. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 16, 500–521.

Muharib, R., & Wood, C. L. (2018). Evaluation of the empirical support of functional

communication training for children with autism spectrum disorders. Review Journal of Autism

and Developmental Disorders, 5(4), 360-369.

Schmidt, J. D., Drasgow, E., Halle, J. W., Martin, C. A., & Bliss, S. A. (2014). Discrete-trial

functional analysis and functional communication training with three individuals with autism and

severe problem behavior. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 16(1), 44-55.