A practical functional assessment format was recently developed that informed a skill‐based treatment for the problem behavior of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Since its inception there have been multiple replications of the procedures; however, the comprehensive model has rarely been applied to populations with more complex comorbid disorders and severe problem behavior such as those diagnosed with anxiety or depression. We conducted the current study to systematically replicate the entire practical functional assessment and skill‐based treatment model with two participants diagnosed with multiple mental health disorders admitted to a severe behavior outpatient unit. The practical functional assessment identified reinforcers that were provided contingent on increasingly complex forms of communication. Problem behavior remained low for both participants after reinforcement was thinned by increasing a response requirement of completing difficult tasks. Furthermore, the results were socially validated by the parents and teachers and the treatment was extended to the home setting.

中文翻译：

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自闭症和心理健康障碍患者中实用功能评估和基于技能的治疗的普遍性

最近开发了一种实用的功能评估格式，该功能为诊断为自闭症谱系障碍儿童的问题行为提供了一种基于技能的治疗方法。自从成立以来，该程序已经进行了多次复制。但是，这种综合模型很少用于具有更复杂的合并症和严重问题行为的人群，例如那些患有焦虑症或抑郁症的人群。我们进行了当前的研究，系统地复制了两名被诊断患有严重行为门诊的精神疾病的参与者，从而复制了整个实用功能评估和基于技能的治疗模型。实际的功能评估确定了可以根据日益复杂的通信形式提供的增强器。通过增加完成困难任务的响应要求来减轻强化后，两个参与者的问题行为仍然很低。此外，结果得到了父母和老师的社会认可，并且治疗被扩展到了家庭环境。