Have you ever had that student who seems to engage in problem behavior for something other than escape or attention? He/She wants something, but it’s not a tangible….

Hanley introduces us to the assumption that there are more than 4 functions of behavior and they interact together. For example – a person can escape to a tangible, tangible to attention, etc. Hanley also introduces us to the idea of CONTROL as a function of behavior. I just want to do things MY WAY.

In order to understand the behavior, you should be doing a systematic analysis (what he terms a PFA and an IISCA) in order to turn on and off the behavior. For more detailed information, steps, and data sheets, check out How to ABA’s bx resource PFA page.

For further information, here is a free youtube video that Hanley did in 2018. Note, his procedure has been updated slightly since then.

For up-to-date and in-depth information on PFA and SBT, we highly recommend taking Hanley’s Practical Functional Assessment and Skill-Based Treatment on-demand course.

Here, Hanley describes his skill-based treatment (SBT) and provides forms and helpful do’s and don’ts.

Hanley also introduces us to Today’s Perspective on ABA. ABA should be compassionate. We need to learn by listening, not by controlling. We highly recommend reading this along with his Pledge to address problem behavior with care and compassion.

Here is a really great video that shows the progression of the SBT approach.

The most important part about this whole approach is the intermittent reinforcement piece. Check out the “intermittent reinforcement” pdf for a great visual for staff.

These 3 documents for a summary of Hanley’s approach. (Includes a data sheet)

SBT Procedure Explained

PFA and SBT TA

SBT How to ABA Data Sheet