We examined the effects of an individualized schedule on levels of engagement and self-injury for a student with severe autism. We first conducted a series of functional analyses to identify contexts in which self-injury occurred in his classroom. Results of the functional analyses suggested that self-injury was associated with academic demands. Self-injury rarely occurred during the play and no interaction conditions (i.e., when the teacher was present but did not attend to him) of the functional analysis. Furthermore, when the functional analysis conditions were organized according to a specific schedule (no interaction-play-demand) self-injury did not occur. This schedule of activities was then evaluated within the context of his regular curriculum and produced substantial reductions in self-injury and increases in engagement. Positive results maintained for up to five months following the assessment. These findings seem to indicate that functional analysis methodologies might provide helpful information when developing individualized schedules for students who may not have the skills to comprehend and follow a schedule. © 2005 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Education
Research Group:	Specialist Studies in Education
Research Field:	Special Education and Disability
Objective Division:	Education and Training
Objective Group:	Other Education and Training
Objective Field:	Special Needs Education
UTAS Author:	Sigafoos, J (Professor Jeffrey Sigafoos)
ID Code:	39255
Year Published:	2005
Web of Science® Times Cited:	43
Deposited By:	Education
Deposited On:	2006-04-05
Last Modified:	2006-04-05
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