Effects of Function-Based Crisis Intervention on the Severe Challenging Behavior of Students with Autism

A percentage of individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities engage in severe, dangerous challenging behaviors. Two common approaches for intervening for these behaviors are function-based interventions (FBI), which have been effective at reducing such behaviors, and crisis intervention, which has been shown to increase staff skills for managing dangerous situations. These two methods have different theoretical foundations, and as such the two approaches often recommend competing strategies for a given challenging behavior. Therefore, practitioners may feel they need to choose between the two approaches, selecting either FBI or crisis intervention. This study examined a way to blend the strengths of two approaches into a synthesized model referred to as function-based crisis intervention (FBCI). Using a delayed multiple-probe design, results showed that FBCI reduced the severe challenging behavior of three students with autism. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.