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Effective treatment of challenging behaviors in young children with autism spectrum disorder requires identifying consequences that maintain the behavior under specific environmental circumstances. Assessment strategies help to identify environmental factors setting the occasion for the behaviors to continue to occur. Many studies have used antecedent–behavior–consequence (ABC) data collection strategies, but few have examined its ability to effectively identify the function. Research supports the use of the trial-based functional analysis (TBFA) but few studies examine its effectiveness in the home setting. The current study attempted to answer which assessments might work best in the home setting. Treatment was implemented for each participant based on the results of their assessments. All assessments identified the function of behavior as verified by function-based treatments, but the ABC assessment identified additional functions for three of the participants while the TBFA was more precise. Implications and limitations are reviewed, along with future directions for behavioral assessment in the home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research demonstrates that in order to implement a successful behavior analytic intervention, one must first identify the maintaining contingencies of the target behavior. Descriptive assessments are the most commonly used functional assessment used by behavior analysts (Oliver et al., 2015), although, comparative research further supports the use of analog functional analyses over descriptive assessments. As a way to assess the components of descriptive assessments to increase their accuracy, antecedent‐behavior‐consequence (ABC) assessments and functional analysis procedures were used to analyze the key components of descriptive assessment and were then verified with the implementation of a function‐based intervention. Results indicated that conditional probabilities from the antecedent condition were verified as the function in the functional analysis and treatment. Implications for clinicians and researchers are reviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the population of individuals with autism aging into adulthood continues to rise, the rate of employment remains exceptionally low. While adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience several social, communicative, or behavioral impairments that hinder their ability to obtain or maintain jobs, several interventions have been helpful in work-related skill acquisition.This systematic literature review focuses on strategies that improve numerous employment skills for adults diagnosed with ASD.A systematic literature review using the PRISMA guidelines identified a total of 44 articles that met inclusion criteria to analyze across several dimensions (participant characteristics, skills targeted, measurement systems, settings, interventions, experimental designs, and outcome/maintenance).Many empirical practices were implemented and demonstrated an impact on the development of work-related skills in adults with ASD. Each study demonstrated an increase in work-related skills, with 63.6% of studies reporting changes in performance that were maintained after completion of the intervention, and/or led to paid employment positions at the end of the study.The review clearly indicates that behavior analytic supports in the workplace hold promise to further improve employment and quality of life outcomes for adults with ASD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Safety is a significant clinical challenge in settings serving adults with developmental disabilities. Few resources exist to guide clinical teams in this realm; this study explored safety elements through interviews with experts in critical areas of safety management. The present study aimed to gather knowledge and insights regarding assessing risk among individuals with disabilities. Due to gaps in the available safety literature in adult services, interviews in related areas were conducted and analyzed for thematic content. This paper focuses on the extracted safety themes' categorization, summarization, and implications. The safety themes extracted from the interviews included environmental arrangements, medical, independent living skills, historical indicators of risk, family life skills, challenging behavior, and communication. The interviews identified areas of concern that might guide assessment and inform providers about the most individually relevant contexts to consider when supporting clients., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.