When targeted behaviors are hypothesized to be automatically maintained, an extended assessment is often necessary to evaluate the impact of social contingencies and guide intervention selection. Elements that may be related to determining assessment outcome include observed characteristics of the behavior, type of sessions conducted, and the topography of targeted behavior. The present retrospective chart review analyzed these variables in 51 clients with developmental disabilities who were exposed to extended alone or ignore evaluations as part of a clinical admission. Findings indicate clinicians may conduct more sessions during extended assessments than previously reported. Level of behavior and pica as the presenting topography primarily drove determination of an automatic function. Session type and other topographies were not statistical predictors of assessment outcome. We discuss these findings with respect to balancing internal and social validity. We also present exploratory and statistically derived cut offs to consider when assessment length is constrained.

中文翻译：

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单独扩展并忽略评估：对影响自动功能确定的因素的新检查

当假设有针对性的行为可以自动维持时，通常需要进行扩展评估以评估社会突发事件的影响并指导干预选择。可能与确定评估结果相关的要素包括观察到的行为特征、进行的会话类型和目标行为的地形。本回顾性图表分析分析了 51 名发育障碍患者的这些变量，这些患者在临床入院时单独接受扩展或忽略评估。调查结果表明，临床医生在扩展评估期间可能会进行比以前报告的更多的会议。作为呈现地形的行为水平和异食癖主要推动了自动功能的确定。会话类型和其他拓扑结构不是评估结果的统计预测因子。我们在平衡内部效度和社会效度方面讨论了这些发现。我们还提出了在评估长度受到限制时要考虑的探索性和统计得出的截止值。