Having Faith in Function
Trust the process!
You’ve heard it before. Most of us agree with the statement, right? That is, we agree with trusting the process if the process is a good process.
Working in behavior analysis, we have a great deal of systems and processes. We have systems and processes for assessing skill deficits. We have systems and processes for coming up with new skills. We also have systems and processes for figuring out why a problem behavior continues.
That’s the one I want to talk about today.
We have a process for sorting through the variables that might increase problem behavior—Functional Behavior Assessments (FBAs) and Functional Analyses (FAs). These processes are well researched. These processes have been proven to work.
But sometimes we can feel ourselves losing faith and patience with that process.
Navigating the Uncertainty of New Challenges
I remember the first time I heard a BCBA say “I don’t think there is a function!”.
And I’ve been in that situation.
When I was a new BCBA, like many of you, I encountered clients with complex problem behaviors that were baffling and difficult to manage. This is a common scenario, where despite our best efforts, the variables influencing certain behaviors seem to be terribly elusive.
You go through every hypotheses you can think of. To the point it seems like you’re tempted to blame environmental factors like sunshine or rain clouds or traffic. You might even go as far as to think that you’re the variable that is causing the increase.
It’s easy to feel demoralized when you’re out of hypotheses…and when you think it might be your fault.
The Role of Supervision and Support
One of the first lifelines in such scenarios is a good boss.
An experienced supervisor can offer new perspectives and insights that reinvigorate your approach. But even with the best supervision, the key to persevering through these challenging cases is to remember: trust the process. And that means, every behavior has a function.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Martin. I’m a BCBA. I know it does.
No seriously! Listen to me again: Every.Behavior.Has.A.Function.
Yes! That means even the ones that are stumping you.
It’s our job to uncover that function, no matter how hidden it might seem.
Keeping the Faith in Function
The notion of "having faith in function" is about maintaining confidence that there is a reason behind every behavior. And, that the reason is—in fact—discoverable. Sometimes, you might feel like throwing up your hands and trying a new behavior plan every week. However, frequent changes can prevent you from ever truly understanding the underlying issues, keeping you and your client stuck in an unproductive cycle.
Behavior is like an iceberg—what we see on the surface isn’t the whole story. If anything, this behavior is clue in the larger mystery. And we can’t resign to locating a single trigger; behaviors often have multiple clues.
Having faith in the function means persisting in the face of uncertainty. It means trusting the process. It means using every tool at our disposal to uncover the multiple variables at play. It means not settling for the idea that a behavior "just happens."
It also means having a lot of patience.
As a BCBA, be prepared for that complexity. Be prepared for that mystery. Be prepared to be patient.
In fact, as BCBAs, we should be as excited about the behavioral mystery itself as we are having solved it.
Words of Encouragement
So a few thoughts for my fellow BCBAs, especially those who are new or feeling overwhelmed, a couple of pointers for you:
Give yourself grace and time.
Reach out to your experienced colleagues.
Lean into the process.
Keep a running list of potential hypotheses.
And, most importantly, embrace the mystery. You’ll be a better BCBA on the other side of it.
Martin Myers is a BCBA with a passion for helping improve the field of ABA. He is the creator of BxMastery, with over 4,000 goal ideas, sequenced, to inspire your programming. With 10+ years of experience in the field, he’s dedicated to empowering others and fostering positive change through effective leadership and communication. Connect with Martin on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok for more insights and updates.