FCT Foundations: A Brief Review
Functional communication training, first described by Carr and Durand (1985), involves teaching a communicative response that is functionally equivalent to the problem behavior. If a child screams to gain attention, FCT teaches an appropriate way to request attention (e.g., tapping a shoulder, saying "play with me," or pressing a speech-generating device button). The communicative response and the problem behavior access the same reinforcer, making the communication a direct replacement.
FCT is function-based, meaning it requires a functional assessment to identify the reinforcer maintaining the problem behavior. Without knowing the function, you cannot select an appropriate communicative alternative.
Selecting the Communication Response
The choice of communication response significantly affects the long-term success of FCT. Consider these factors:
Response Effort
The communication response must require equal or less effort than the problem behavior. If the problem behavior is a single hand movement and the replacement requires a multi-word sentence, the individual will likely continue using the problem behavior because it is more efficient. Initially, select responses that are easy and fast to emit, even if they are not the ultimate communication goal.
Response Modality
Select a modality the individual can reliably use. Options include vocal speech, sign language, picture exchange, speech-generating devices, gestures, or written communication. The modality should be recognizable to natural communication partners across settings. A response that only the therapist understands will not generalize.
Social Recognizability
The communication response should be easily understood by people in the individual's natural environment. "Break please" is more socially recognizable than an idiosyncratic gesture. Consider what teachers, peers, and family members will be able to understand and respond to without specialized training.
Beyond Basic Implementation: Schedule Thinning
One of the most challenging aspects of FCT is schedule thinning. Initially, FCT requires a dense reinforcement schedule: every instance of the communication response is reinforced immediately (FR1). This dense schedule is necessary to establish the communication response and compete with the problem behavior. However, an FR1 schedule is not sustainable in natural settings. Teachers cannot provide a break every time a student asks for one, and parents cannot deliver attention every time a child requests it.
Multiple Schedule Approach
Hanley, Iwata, and Thompson (2001) described the use of multiple schedules in FCT thinning. In this approach, distinct signals indicate when reinforcement is and is not available. During "reinforcement available" periods (signaled by a green card, for example), the communication response is reinforced. During "reinforcement unavailable" periods (signaled by a red card), the communication response is acknowledged but the reinforcer is not delivered.
The practitioner begins with mostly "available" periods and gradually increases the duration and proportion of "unavailable" periods. This teaches the individual to tolerate delays in reinforcement while maintaining the communication response.
Chained Schedule Approach
Another thinning strategy involves chaining the communication response with a delay tolerance response. After the individual communicates, they are given a visual timer or waiting cue and must wait a specified duration before receiving the reinforcer. The wait time is gradually increased.
Managing Resurgence
Resurgence is the reappearance of a previously extinguished behavior when the conditions maintaining the replacement behavior change. In FCT, resurgence of the original problem behavior is a common clinical challenge that occurs when the reinforcement schedule for the communication response is thinned, when reinforcement for the communication response is disrupted (e.g., the communication device is unavailable), or when the individual encounters a novel or stressful context.
Strategies to mitigate resurgence include thinning the reinforcement schedule very gradually, providing multiple replacement responses so the individual has alternatives if one response is blocked, maintaining some level of reinforcement even during lean schedule periods, and programming for contextual variability during training to build tolerance for different conditions.
Generalization Programming
FCT skills must generalize across settings, people, and conditions. Strategies include training across multiple communication partners from the beginning, practicing in multiple settings (classroom, home, community), programming natural contingencies by ensuring that communication partners in the natural environment know how to respond to the communication response, and teaching multiple response forms (saying "break," using a card, pressing a button) so the individual can communicate regardless of available modality.
Addressing Multiple Functions
When problem behavior serves multiple functions (e.g., both attention and escape), FCT must address each function with a separate, distinct communication response. A single generic response (like "help") may not adequately replace behavior that occurs for different reasons in different contexts. Teach function-specific responses: "play with me" for attention, "break please" for escape, and train each response in the context where that function operates.
Common Clinical Challenges
- High-rate communication replacing high-rate problem behavior: When FCT is initially successful, the individual may engage in the communication response at the same high rate the problem behavior previously occurred. This is expected and is addressed through schedule thinning.
- Communication response becoming coercive: Some individuals learn to use the communication response in a demanding or insistent manner. Address this by teaching appropriate communication tone and timing, and by ensuring the schedule thinning process teaches tolerance for delays.
- Partner training failures: FCT requires that all communication partners respond consistently. When partners fail to reinforce the communication response or inadvertently reinforce the problem behavior, treatment gains are compromised.
BCBA Exam Relevance
FCT is one of the most frequently tested topics on the BCBA exam. Beyond basic definitions, be prepared to select appropriate communication responses, describe schedule thinning procedures, explain resurgence and strategies to address it, identify when FCT requires function-specific responses for multiply maintained behaviors, and troubleshoot common implementation challenges from clinical vignettes.