Trauma informed and trauma assumed practices in a school-based setting
1/30/2026
Introduction Trauma is increasingly recognized as a pervasive public health issue. The National Center for PTSD estimates that 60 % of men and 50 % of women in...
Introduction Trauma is increasingly recognized as a pervasive public health issue.
The National Center for PTSD estimates that 60 % of men and 50 % of women in the United States experience at least one traumatic event in their lifetimespmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
Trauma is not limited to a specific diagnosis.
Beyond the narrow criteria for post‑traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), researchers have identified adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)—events such as abuse, neglect and household dysfunction—that can disrupt developmentpmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that 61 % of adults have experienced at least one ACE and 16 % have experienced four or morepracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
Adolescents receiving psychiatric, substance‑abuse or medical services frequently report trauma: in one study, 83 % of adolescents seeking such services reported at least one traumatic eventpracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
Trauma triggers neurobiological stress responses; repeated activation can alter brain structures involved in learning, memory and emotion regulationpmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
Because behavior analysts routinely support individuals with developmental disabilities or social‑emotional needs—populations at greater risk for traumapracticalfunctionalassessment.com—a trauma‑informed approach is ethically imperative. While trauma‑informed care has become embedded in other helping professions, it has been largely absent from applied behavior analysis (ABA).
Wheeler and colleagues surveyed Board‑Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) and found that most respondents viewed training on trauma as extremely important, yet the majority reported little to no coursework or supervised experience related to traumapmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
This knowledge gap exists despite the high prevalence of trauma among clients served by behavior analysts and the ethical requirement to protect clients from harm.
Rajaraman and colleagues argued that failing to incorporate trauma‑informed care may be detrimental not only to public perception of ABA but also to the effectiveness of assessment and treatmentpracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
They proposed a framework centered around four core commitments—acknowledging trauma, ensuring safety and trust, promoting choice and shared governance, and emphasizing skill buildingpracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
This article examines the conceptual foundations of trauma‑informed behavior analysis, discusses how ABA can operationalize the four commitments, and demonstrates how evidence‑based models such as Practical Functional Assessment (PFA) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) align with trauma‑informed principles in school settings.
Defining Trauma and Its Impact on Behavior
SAMHSA defines trauma as exposure to an event or series of events that is experienced as physically or emotionally harmful or life‑threatening and that has lasting adverse effects on functioningpracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
Trauma can occur at any age and includes not only dramatic events (e.g., accidents, violence, disasters) but also prolonged exposures such as poverty, bullying or systemic discrimination.
Individuals may respond differently to the same event; some develop resilience while others experience persistent challengespracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
Trauma can produce enduring behavioral patterns.
A history of physical abuse, for example, may condition mild physical prompts as aversive, leading to severe problem behavior when staff attempt to guide a studentpracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
Trauma can also foster avoidance strategies that impede learning.
Rajaraman and colleagues caution that ignoring trauma may lead practitioners to implement restrictive procedures (e.g., physical guidance, time‑out) that inadvertently replicate past trauma and risk retraumatizationpracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
Behavior analysts must therefore assume a universal sensitivity to trauma and err on the side of caution during assessment and interventionpracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
Why Trauma‑Informed Practice is Essential in ABA
Prevalence and Ethical Considerations
The high prevalence of trauma among the general population and among people with developmental disabilities implies that behavior analysts are likely to encounter clients with trauma historiespmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
Trauma influences behavior in ways that may not be apparent in a standard functional assessment; avoidance, hypervigilance or emotional dysregulation may appear as noncompliance or aggression.
Failing to consider trauma not only undermines treatment effectiveness but may violate the ethical mandate to do no harm and to minimize riskpracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
The Behavior Analyst Certification Board’s ethics code requires practitioners to prioritize client welfare, use the least restrictive procedures and seek informed consent; these responsibilities align with trauma‑informed carepracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
When ABA practitioners ignore trauma, they risk using extinction, punishment or physical restraint that may re‑create prior traumadigscholarship.unco.edu.
As Reilly et al. note, learning to tolerate corrective feedback is critical for less restrictive environments, yet delivering correction without trauma‑assumed practices led to dangerous challenging behavior in a young boypracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
Integrating trauma‑assumed approaches—including performance‑based functional analysis and graduated exposure—reduced challenging behavior and increased tolerancepracticalfunctionalassessment.com. The Trauma Piece Many school teams—whether you’re a psychologist, behavior analyst, teacher, or administrator—share a common sticking point: defining “psychological trauma” in practical, behavior‑observable terms.
The term often comes wrapped in medical or clinical language, which can clash with day‑to‑day data collection and intervention models used in schools.
When the construct itself feels murky, it becomes tough to agree on how to identify trauma‑related behaviors, choose appropriate measures, or decide when outside supports are needed. That uncertainty feeds into a second roadblock: professional hesitancy.
Staff may worry about stepping outside their scope, triggering liability concerns, or accidentally retraumatizing a student.
Even seasoned practitioners sometimes default to “let’s avoid the trauma piece” rather than risk missteps.
Finally, schools rarely have a clear, systematic framework that ties trauma‑informed care (TIC) to existing behavior‑analytic or multi‑tiered systems of support.
Without procedures that spell out how to blend safety, choice, and skill‑building into functional assessment and intervention, teams are left improvising—often with inconsistent results.
Building shared definitions, confidence, and structured protocols is therefore essential if schools want to address trauma’s impact on learning and behavior effectively.
The Four Core Commitments of Trauma‑Informed Behavior Analysis
Rajaraman et al. identify four commitments that adapt trauma‑informed care to ABApracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
Each commitment resonates with behavior analytic principles but requires deliberate operationalization. 1.
Acknowledge Trauma and Its Potential Impact Acknowledging trauma entails assuming that many clients have experienced adverse events and that these histories can affect current behavior.
Behavior analysts should gather trauma histories when available, review medical and educational records, and consider the context in which problem behavior occurs.
Guarino and colleagues urge practitioners to recognize that challenging behaviors may be adaptive responses to past traumapracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
From a behavior analytic perspective, practitioners can conceptualize trauma‑related responding as stimulus control exerted by environmental cues reminiscent of past traumapracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
For example, a student who has experienced seclusion as punishment may exhibit escape responses during time‑out, even when used neutrally.
Rajaraman et al. recommend exercising caution and avoiding intrusive procedures until more information is gathered, using less restrictive alternatives such as noncontingent reinforcement or differential reinforcement without extinctionpracticalfunctionalassessment.com. In practice, acknowledging trauma may require modifying assessment procedures.
Traditional functional analyses present evocative events and withdraw reinforcers repeatedly, which can replicate past trauma and evoke severe problem behaviorpracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
Jessel et al. developed the performance‑based Interview‑Informed Synthesized Contingency Analysis (IISCA), a brief functional analysis conducted in a single session that incorporates trauma‑assumed measures such as indices of calm and reinforces precursors to avoid escalationpracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
In 12 applications across the United States and Brazil, the performance‑based IISCA efficiently identified treatment functions and informed effective interventions without extended exposure to evocative conditionspracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
Reilly et al. applied a similar trauma‑assumed analysis to assess challenging behavior evoked by corrective feedback.
Their functional analysis synthesised suspected reinforcers, included measures of calm and allowed immediate reinforcement of precursor behaviors; these modifications reduced escalation and riskpracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
These examples illustrate how acknowledging trauma can inform safer assessment practices. 2.
Ensure Safety and Trust The second commitment emphasizes creating environments that are free from harm and emotionally safe, with predictable, respectful interactions.
Safety is not merely the absence of physical danger; it includes emotional safety and trust.
Rajaraman et al. note that clients should feel safe and trust that practitioners will maintain safe practices throughout service deliverypracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
From a behavioral standpoint, safety signals are environmental cues associated with the absence of aversive stimulation, while uncertainty can produce anxietypracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
Trust involves a history of reinforcement for approaching practitioners and freely communicating needspracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
ABA ethics codes already require minimizing risk, selecting the least restrictive procedures and avoiding harmful practicespracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
Yet emotional safety and trust have received less attention.
Rajaraman et al. argue that emotional safety should be prioritized alongside physical safetypracticalfunctionalassessment.com. Operationalizing safety and trust involves pairing procedures and rapport building.
Research has shown that pairing staff with positive reinforcement before introducing demands can reduce avoidance and build trustpracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
In practice, therapists should invest time in rapport building, provide consistent and respectful interactions, and avoid sudden changes in routines.
When interventions require physical guidance or restraint, practitioners should continuously assess emotional responses and have plans for immediate termination if distress occurspracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
Performance‑based analyses and practical functional assessments (PFAs) often start with a control condition in which the client receives continuous access to preferred stimuli and no demands.
This context establishes safety signals and trust before any evocative events are introduced, aligning with this commitmentpracticalfunctionalassessment.com. 3.
Promote Choice and Shared Governance Trauma can involve experiences of powerlessness and lack of control.
Providing choice helps clients regain a sense of control, reduces the likelihood of retraumatization and increases participationpracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
Behavior analysis has a rich history of studying choice and preference.
Catania defined choice as selecting one of two or more alternatives and noted that choice is a fundamental variable in operant behaviorpracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
Rajaraman et al. argue that arranging opportunities for clients to make choices—from selecting preferred activities to choosing between intervention options—embodies respect for autonomy and aligns with ethical codespracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
Shared governance extends choice by ensuring that clients and stakeholders have an equal voice in treatment decisionspracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
Social validity assessments should occur not only at the end of treatment but throughout the process, with clients’ preferences guiding goal selection and intervention procedurespracticalfunctionalassessment.com. Research demonstrates the value of incorporating choice in interventions.
Hanley and colleagues used concurrent‑chains procedures to allow individuals to select from multiple intervention packages; clients consistently preferred packages that included opportunities for functional communication and reinforcementpracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
Such procedures highlight how shared governance can be operationalized even with individuals who have limited verbal abilities.
In PFAs, the use of an open‑ended interview ensures that caregivers and clients contribute to identifying contexts and reinforcers.
The skill‑based treatment (SBT) derived from the assessment includes continuous choice‑making, with the learner selecting activities, responses and reinforcement options.
Similarly, the Check‑In/Check‑Out (CICO) procedure, a Tier‑2 school‑based intervention, can be modified to align with trauma‑informed principles by pairing the student with a trusted mentor and providing conversations that support safety, choice and empowermentfiles.eric.ed.gov. 4.
Emphasize Skill Building The final commitment, emphasizing skill building, aligns closely with the behavior analytic mission.
Rajaraman et al. argue that behavior analysts are uniquely positioned to make meaningful contributions to trauma‑informed care because of their expertise in teaching functional skillspracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
Most problem behaviors involve either skill deficits (missing communication, tolerance, or self‑management skills) or behavioral excesses (challenging behavior maintained by reinforcement).
Therefore, interventions should focus on teaching alternative skills rather than merely suppressing problem behaviorpracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
Behavior analysts using a trauma‑informed lens should prioritize differential reinforcement of alternative behaviors, functional communication training and self‑management strategies over extinction or punishmentpracticalfunctionalassessment.com. Practical Functional Assessment and Skill‑Based Treatment (PFA/SBT) exemplify this commitment.
After identifying synthesized contingencies, the SBT teaches a three‑component response sequence: (1) functional communication (asking for the synthesized reinforcer), (2) tolerance (accepting delay or denial while engaging in a coping response) and (3) cooperation (completing contextually appropriate tasks)practicalfunctionalassessment.com.
Hanley et al. demonstrated that PFA/SBT reduced severe problem behavior and taught communication, tolerance and cooperation within an average of two visitspracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
Reilly et al. adapted this model by embedding a token system with task choice and graduated exposure to corrective feedback; these skill‑building procedures increased the child’s tolerance and maintained effects when generalized to caregiverspracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
Such examples show how focusing on skills can empower clients, enhance resilience and promote long‑term adaptation.
Integration of PFA and ACT in School‑Based Settings
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a third‑wave behavioral therapy grounded in relational frame theory.
Unlike traditional cognitive‑behavioral approaches that seek to modify the content of thoughts, ACT aims to increase psychological flexibility—the ability to remain in contact with the present moment and pursue valued actions despite unpleasant internal eventsfiles.eric.ed.gov.
ACT teaches clients to accept painful thoughts and emotions rather than avoid them and to commit to behavior aligned with their values.
The goal is not to reduce unwanted private events but to modify avoidance strategies and align behavior with valuesfiles.eric.ed.gov.
Therapists use metaphors and mindfulness exercises to help clients observe their thoughts and feelings without attachmentfiles.eric.ed.gov.
ACT recognizes that humans encounter pain and trauma; suffering arises when individuals become stuck in unhelpful strategies to control internal experiencesfiles.eric.ed.gov.
By promoting psychological flexibility, ACT helps individuals manage the impacts of trauma.
Evidence for ACT with Youth
Although ACT was initially developed for adults, research supports its use with adolescents.
Büyüköksüz conducted a randomized controlled pilot study with 89 high school students, comparing an ACT intervention to a control group.
Six weekly sessions focused on mindfulness, emotional regulation and self‑compassionpmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
Students receiving ACT demonstrated significant improvements in resilience and self‑compassion and reductions in psychological inflexibility relative to controlspmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
These findings suggest that ACT may enhance resilience in non‑clinical adolescents, a protective factor for trauma.
In a school‑based case report, Haydon and Kennedy‑Donica applied ACT combined with Check‑In/Check‑Out to support an 18‑year‑old student with a learning disability and a history of trauma and suicidal ideation.
ACT helped the student process painful experiences, align behavior with values and increase emotional stabilityfiles.eric.ed.gov.
The CICO procedure was modified to include conversations supporting safety, trust, choice and empowermentfiles.eric.ed.gov.
Together, ACT and CICO improved academic engagement, emotional stability and quality of life for the studentfiles.eric.ed.gov.
Synergy Between ACT and PFA/SBT
ACT and PFA/SBT share complementary goals.
Both models emphasize acceptance, choice, and skill building rather than suppression.
PFA teaches clients to request reinforcers, tolerate delays and cooperate with tasks; ACT teaches clients to accept internal experiences and commit to valued actions.
Integrating ACT into PFA can enhance coping skills and psychological flexibility, improving the effectiveness of SBT and reducing relapse.
For example, the relaxation and mindfulness techniques from ACT can be incorporated into the tolerance component of SBT to help students remain calm during delays or corrective feedback.
Likewise, ACT metaphors can support value clarification, guiding the selection of meaningful replacement behaviors.
Research on trauma‑assumed performance‑based IISCA and SBT already emphasizes building tolerance and coping skillspracticalfunctionalassessment.com; ACT provides a framework for teaching these skills explicitly.
In school‑based settings, combining ACT with PFA and CICO offers a comprehensive, trauma‑informed intervention that addresses both external contingencies and internal experiences.
Supporting Students Who Struggle with Corrective Feedback: Lessons from Trauma-Assumed Assessment and Treatment Many educators and behavior analysts encounter students who respond to corrective feedback with frustration, avoidance, or even dangerous behavior.
For some students, especially those with a history of emotional dysregulation or adverse experiences, even a mild correction can escalate quickly.
A recent study by Reilly et al. (2025) offers valuable insight into how we can approach this issue using trauma-assumed practices grounded in behavior analysis. In the study, the authors worked with a 7-year-old student who engaged in escalating problem behavior when receiving corrective feedback.
Instead of relying on traditional methods that risk triggering these behaviors, the team used a performance-based Interview-Informed Synthesized Contingency Analysis (IISCA).
This allowed them to assess the function of the behavior without needing to evoke it fully.
Most importantly, they assumed trauma—even though no formal trauma history was confirmed—and adapted their entire assessment and treatment process accordingly. One of the most critical recommendations from the study is to teach tolerance to corrective feedback gradually.
The clinicians used a form of graduated exposure, starting with neutral or mild corrections and slowly increasing intensity over time.
This approach was paired with reinforcement for calm, appropriate responses to feedback—what we might call “tolerance behaviors.” These included behaviors like remaining seated, using appropriate language, or asking for clarification.
Students earned tokens and praise for demonstrating these behaviors, which helped build resilience over time. Choice and predictability were also essential features of the intervention.
The student was given opportunities to select tasks, decide when to begin, and opt out temporarily if overwhelmed.
Visual schedules and preview statements (“Can I give you a quick suggestion?”) helped increase emotional safety by reducing the unpredictability of feedback.
These small changes gave the student a sense of control, which in turn reduced the likelihood of escalation. Another powerful element of the study was the emphasis on caregiver training and generalization.
After initial success in the clinic, the team worked with the student’s caregivers to transfer the treatment to the home environment.
By coaching caregivers on how to build rapport, deliver feedback gently, and reinforce appropriate responses, they extended the benefits of the intervention beyond the school or clinic walls. Ultimately, Reilly et al. (2025) shows that students who struggle with feedback don’t need more punishment or tighter control—they need safer, more flexible systems that assume emotional sensitivity and support gradual learning.
By embedding trauma-assumed practices into functional assessment and treatment, we can help students learn to receive feedback in ways that are emotionally safe, socially valid, and instructionally effective.
Operationalizing the Commitments in School‑Based Settings
Universal Precautions and Tiered Supports
Harris and Fallot described trauma‑informed care as adopting universal precautions—assuming all clients may have trauma histories and proactively designing services to mitigate retraumatizationpracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
In schools, this approach aligns with Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), where tier‑one strategies create safe and supportive environments for all students, and tier‑two/three interventions provide more intensive supportpracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
Under universal precautions, school staff use compassionate communication, avoid punitive or coercive strategies, and implement predictable routines and clear expectations.
Teachers can embed calming activities, choice boards and opportunities for students to practice functional communication across the day.
When problems occur, staff assume that behaviors may be trauma‑related and respond with empathy and support rather than judgment.
Building Therapeutic Relationships
Trauma‑informed ABA requires deliberate rapport building.
Practitioners should allocate initial sessions to pairing with positive reinforcement, engaging in activities the student chooses and avoiding demands.
Throughout intervention, they should continue to provide reinforcement for approach responses and communication, maintain predictable schedules and avoid abrupt transitions.
When delivering demands or corrective feedback, they should prepare the student with pre‑teaching, use a warm and supportive tone, and check in about feelings.
Tools such as Zones of Regulation charts or body scans can help students identify and communicate their emotional statesfiles.eric.ed.gov.
Emphasizing Choice and Collaboration
School‑based teams should design interventions collaboratively with students and their caregivers.
During the interview component of PFA, ask open‑ended questions about what triggers and alleviates the student’s problem behavior, their preferences and values, and any history of trauma.
Use this information to create synthesized contingencies and to select reinforcers that are meaningful to the student.
Throughout SBT, incorporate frequent choice making: the student may choose the order of tasks, the materials used or the type of reinforcement.
When implementing ACT interventions, incorporate values clarification exercises that help students identify what matters to them (e.g., relationships, learning, creativity), and embed these values into treatment goals.
Use behavior contracts that specify mutually agreed‑upon goals and conditions, reflecting shared governance.
Building Skills to Foster Resilience
Skill building should address both external behaviors and internal coping processes.
In PFA/SBT, teach functional communication (e.g., requesting breaks, help, or access to preferred items), tolerance (e.g., waiting, accepting alternative activities) and cooperation (e.g., following instructions, completing tasks).
Use visual supports, social stories and video modeling to teach expectations.
Reinforce successive approximations and celebrate effort.
Integrate self‑management strategies such as goal setting, self‑monitoring and self‑reinforcement.
When combining PFA with ACT, incorporate mindfulness exercises and defusion techniques to help students notice thoughts and emotions without acting on them.
Teach values‑based decision making so students can choose behaviors aligned with what matters to them.
For example, a student may learn to tolerate a homework assignment by reminding themselves that completing schoolwork aligns with their value of graduating and helping their family.
Staff Training and Reflection
Implementing trauma‑informed ABA requires systematic professional development.
Training should cover the definition and prevalence of trauma, the four commitments, assessment adaptations, rapport‑building strategies, and skill‑building procedures.
Staff should practice trauma‑sensitive communication, learn to recognize signs of stress and dysregulation, and develop plans for de‑escalation.
Ongoing supervision should include reflection on how interventions may affect students with trauma.
Encourage staff to seek feedback from students and families and to adjust practices accordingly.
Additionally, staff should practice self‑care to prevent compassion fatigue; regular debriefings, peer support and mindfulness exercises can help sustain trauma‑informed practice.
Conclusion and Future Directions
Trauma‑informed behavior analysis is not a separate intervention but a framework that informs all aspects of assessment and treatment.
By acknowledging trauma, ensuring safety and trust, promoting choice and shared governance, and emphasizing skill building, behavior analysts can provide compassionate, effective services that respect clients’ histories and foster resilience.
Evidence from recent studies supports the viability of trauma‑assumed functional analyses and skill‑based treatmentspracticalfunctionalassessment.com.
ACT offers complementary strategies to enhance psychological flexibility and resiliencepmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, and case reports demonstrate that integrating ACT with school‑based interventions can improve academic engagement and emotional well‑beingfiles.eric.ed.gov.
However, research remains nascent.
Future studies should evaluate trauma‑informed interventions across diverse populations, explore how to measure emotional safety and trust, and examine long‑term outcomes.
Training programs must incorporate trauma‑informed content to close current knowledge gapspmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
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Latency‑based functional analysis.
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A., Hansen, B., & Wright, N. (2014).
Pairing procedures to increase instructional compliance.
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Skiner, B.
F. (1938).
The behavior of organisms.
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F. (1972).
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ACT for psychosis and trauma.
Psychology and Psychotherapy, 91, 268–284.
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Tiered approaches to school discipline.
PBIS at 25 Years. Thomason‑Sassi, J., Iwata, B., Neidert, P.
L., & Roscoe, E.
M. (2011).
Latency‑based functional analysis.
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G. (2020).
Differential reinforcement without extinction.
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M., Iwata, B.
A., & Lovaas, O.
I. (1988).
The right to effective behavioral treatment.
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D., & Iwata, B.
A. (1999).
Brief functional analysis.
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Verified sources
Shillingsburg, M.
A., Hansen, B., & Wright, N. (2014).
Pairing procedures to increase instructional compliance.
Behavioral Interventions, 29(2), 91–106.
Skinner, B.
F. (1938).
The behavior of organisms: An experimental analysis.
Appleton‑Century.
Skinner, B.
F. (1972).
Walden Two.
Hackett Publishing. Spidel, A., Lecomte, T., & Leclerc, C. (2018).
Acceptance and commitment therapy for psychosis and trauma: Improvement in psychiatric symptoms, emotion regulation, and treatment compliance following a brief group intervention.
Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 91(3), 268–284. Sugai, G., & Horner, R. (2020).
Tiered approaches to school discipline.
In PBIS at 25 years.
PBIS.org. Thomason‑Sassi, J., Iwata, B.
A., Neidert, P.
L., & Roscoe, E.
M. (2011).
Latency‑based functional analysis.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 44(1), 31–47. Tiger, J.
H., Hanley, G.
P., & Bruzek, J. (2008).
Functional communication training: A review and practical guide.
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 1(1), 16–23. Trickey, D., Siddaway, A.
P., Meiser‑Stedman, R., Serpell, L., & Field, A.
P. (2012).
A meta‑analysis of risk factors for post‑traumatic stress disorder in children and adolescents.
Clinical Psychology Review, 32(2), 122–138. Trump, M.
D., Ayres, K.
M., & Conklin, C.
G. (2020).
Differential reinforcement without extinction.
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 13(2), 287–300. Van Houten, R., Axelrod, S., Bailey, J.
S., Favell, J., Foxx, R.
M., Iwata, B.
A., & Lovaas, O.
I. (1988).
The right to effective behavioral treatment.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 21(4), 381–384. Wallace, M.
D., & Iwata, B.
A. (1999).
Brief functional analysis.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 32(1), 53–67. Wheeler, K., Hixson, J., Hamrick, J., Lee, J., & Ratliff, C. (2023).
Behavior analysts’ training and practice regarding trauma‑informed care.
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 17(3), 746–758. Wolf, M.
M. (1978).
Social validity: The case for subjective measurement or how applied behavior analysis is finding its heart.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 11(2), 203–214. Wolkin, A., & Everett, M. (2018).
Trauma‑informed training for public health emergencies.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Resources
Suggestions for 2 000‑word articles
Conceptual foundations of trauma‑informed behavior analysis.
Use Rajaraman et al. to explain why trauma‑informed care is essential practicalfunctionalassessment.com .
Discuss the four core commitments practicalfunctionalassessment.com and how ABA can operationalize them.
Include prevalence data practicalfunctionalassessment.com and highlight the need for shared governance and skill building.
Trauma‑informed functional analysis: performance‑based IISCA and modifications.
Review the IISCA and performance‑based IISCA procedures pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov .
Summarize findings from Jessel et al.’s validation study pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov and Canniello et al.’s risk management series practicalfunctionalassessment.com .
Incorporate the case study from Reilly et al. to illustrate practical application practicalfunctionalassessment.com .
Reducing risk in school‑based functional analyses.
Compare latency‑based FAs (Thomason‑Sassi et al.) iabaonline.com , teacher‑conducted latency‑based FAs pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov and trial‑based FAs pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov .
Discuss how these methods decrease exposure to evocative events and are feasible for school personnel.
Highlight risk‑reduction recommendations from Canniello et al. (brief sessions, termination criteria, targeting precursors) practicalfunctionalassessment.com .
Practical functional assessment and skill‑based treatment in schools.
Describe the PFA process and evidence for its reliability and treatment utility practicalfunctionalassessment.com .
Use Slaton et al. to demonstrate long‑term effectiveness in a school context practicalfunctionalassessment.com .
Discuss schedule thinning, generalization and maintenance considerations for classrooms practicalfunctionalassessment.com .
Edited by Rob Spain, M.S., BCBA, IBA
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