Types of Functional Analysis

1. **Standard (Experimental) Functional Analysis**: Developed by Iwata et al. in 1982, this method involves manipulating antecedents and consequences across several conditions (like attention, demand, alone, and control) to see how behavior changes. This form is the most rigorous and controlled method.

2. **Brief Functional Analysis**: A quicker version that involves shorter observations and fewer conditions to provide rapid initial insights into the function of a behavior.

3. **Trial-Based Functional Analysis**: Conducted within natural routines where each trial consists of a control and test phase briefly introduced throughout the day. This type is suitable for educational settings where longer sessions are not feasible.

4. **Latency-Based Functional Analysis**: Focuses on the time it takes for a behavior to start following a specific antecedent, which can be useful when behaviors are severe or dangerous to evoke repeatedly.

5. **Interview-Informed Synthesized Contingency Analysis (IISCA)**: Recently developed, this approach uses interviews and observations to hypothesize a behavior’s function and tests it by synthesizing conditions that might occur naturally, focusing on multiple environmental factors at once.

Functional analysis or an analog assessment is a critical tool in ABA, as it provides a direct and empirically grounded method to determine why a behavior is occurring, which is crucial for designing effective behavioral interventions.

Most common conditions in an FA :

Play, escape, attention, alone