Limitations of Functional Analysis: The Case for Including Valued Outcomes Analysis in the Investigation of Difficult Behaviour Vicki Bitsika gond Universi~ Queensland Effective behaviour change is based on understanding the reasons for difficult behaviour, However, current functional anafytlc tedmology is often limited in its effectiveness in the clinical setting because the focus is on labelling and classifying behavioural outcomes rather than conducting a detailed analysis of the manner in which these outcomes assist the client to operate in the environment. The effectiveness of existing fmxctional ~mafytic techniques might be enhanced by moving the focus of the investigation from identifying the consequent variables that impact on behaviour to systematically exploring client-environment interac- tions as well as the mariner in which the client experiences the consequences of his/her actions. One potential method (Valued Outcomes Analysis) that provides a framework for the systematic investigation of the effects of ’inner skin’ factors on the incidence of behavioural difficulties is described here. It has been suggested that the effective development of comprehensive behav- ioural interventions must be based on a functional assessment of the target behaviours that are limiting the client’s capacity to adapt to environmental demand (e.g., Crone & Homer, 1999; Davis & Fox, 2001; Wacker, Cooper, Peck, Derby & Berg, 1999). According to O’Neill, Homer, Albin, Sprague, Story m,d Newton (1997), the term ’functional assessment’ describes a number of observational and data-recording procedures aimed at identifi!ing the environmental events that lead to maintenance of difficult behaviour. Specific procedttres that would form part of a functional assessment of client behaviour include interviewing caregivers, conducting direct observations and completing rating scales (Cone, 1997; Shriver, Anderson, & Proctor, 2001). By contrast, a functional analysis of client behaviour is based on systematically manipulating the variables thought to be controlling the difficult behavlour, directly observing the effects of these manipulations on behaviour and recording the client’s reactions to these manipulations in detail. The latter set of procedttres is based on generating and testing specific hypotheses about the control- ling variables of difficult behaviour. O’Neill et al. (1997) argued that functional analysis manipulations simply form the final step in a comprehensive functional assessment of behaviour. Although both functional assessment and analysis are crucial to understanding the difficult behaviour exhibited by the client, it is often the case that only an assessment is conducted in the clinical setting (Crone & Address for correspoMen~e: Associate Professor Vicki Bitsika, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Bond University, Gold Coast, 4229, Auatralla. E.mail: vbitsika@staff.bond.edu.au Bebaviour Change I Volume 23 I Number 4 i 2006 I pp. 250-259