A new adaptation of the Interview-Informed Synthesized Contingency Analyses (IISCA): The performance-based IISCA

ABSTRACT

The functional analysis of problem behavior is an important type of assessment that has been shown to increase the likelihood of arriving at an efficacious treatment. Several studies described the efficient use of the Interviewed-Informed Synthesized Contingency Analysis (IISCA) to reveal the variables that influence problem behavior across a variety of topographies, participants, and settings. In this study, we describe a new adaptation of the IISCA, the Performance-Based IISCA, used to assess the severe problem behavior of five Italian children with autism admitted to a clinic in the south of Italy. In all applications, the Performance-Based IISCA elucidated the synthesized establishing operations that evoked problem behavior and the synthesized reinforcers that influenced its maintenance. This study extends the literature on functional analysis by introducing the Performance-Based IISCA, demonstrating its viability with Italian clients and demonstrating how its procedural refinements can lead to safe analyses.

KEYWORDS:

• Associated non-dangerous problem behavior
• Interview-Informed Synthesized Contingency Analysis (IISCA)
• Performance-Based IISCA
• safety
• open-contingency response class
• burst probability index

Author notes

This manuscript was prepared as part of a research project at Neapolisanit Clinic and Research Center located in Ottaviano, Naples, Italy, with collaboration from FTF Behavioral Consulting. We wish to thank Salvatore Vita, Jessica Peluso, Maria Rosaria Ricco, Gaia Borriello, Angela Granata, Chiara Russo, Fabio Pisaniello, Federica Marino, Denise Scialoia, Annapia Mautone, Anna Maria Leva, and Rossella Apicella for their assistance with data collection and other aspects of the project. Special thanks to Andrea Mennitto and the technology society Garage94 for the creation and support of the use of IISCA-APP. Address correspondence to Luigi Iovino, Neapolisanit Clinic and Research Center, Via Funari snc, Ottaviano, Naples, Italy. Email: [email protected]

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).