Functional communication, or FCT, is a way to decrease problem behavior through teaching effective communication skills. Shira once had a student who had a ton of language. He would talk all the time in sentences and communicate what he wanted to do, but he didn’t request things. He sometimes engaged in negative attention-seeking behavior but didn’t know how to appropriately get attention. She taught him how to mand for attention by using text cues, which is an FCT technique, and he stopped engaging in aggression.

All behavior is communication, and they’re two sides of the same coin. Kids don’t misbehave because they’re bad or challenging, they’re trying to get attention to get their needs met and it’s often effective. With FCT, we are looking at how to increase the skill and give the child a replacement for the negative or unwanted behavior. The replacement needs to be faster, easier, and better than the negative behavior. Here, we discuss where to start when teaching mands, how to collect data, and how to avoid developing chains of responses by using transfer trials.

What’s Inside:

• What FCT is and how it helps correct unwanted behavior.
• Where to start when teaching mands.
• How to collect data.
• The importance of transfer trials.

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The Purpose of Transfer Trials