The following is an excellent article review by Tiffany Crow, behavior analysis graduate student and special education teacher. This review was written about the FCT: A Review and Practical Guide, from Behavior Analysis in Practice, 1, 16-23 by Tiger, Hanley and Bruzek (2008).

This article is a type of review or collection of information about best practices for the implementation of functional communication training (FCT) covering the years from 1985 to 2006.  I found the article very informative and one that I will reference in the future.

Functional communication training (FCT) is the process of teaching a person (with disabilities) to ask (communicate) for something they want or need in an appropriate way.  This technique is typically used when a person is using a problem behavior (i.e. hitting, property destruction, self-injurious behavior) to communicate a want/need.  An example of this would be a scenario where a child wants a cookie.  Instead of asking for the cookie they fall on the floor and tantrum until the cookie is given to them.  The tantrum was the child’s way to ask for the cookie.  The child has learned that by having a tantrum he can obtain things he wants.  In this example FCT would teach the child to say, “I want ___.” Or exchange a picture card of a desired object to obtain things he wants.  During FCT the tantrums would no longer produce the desired items and the child would be taught to appropriately ask for the desired item.  This procedure works because the child still wants the desired item and they learn that the only way to get it is by using the “new/appropriate” functional communication.   In doing this the child appropriately asks for desired items and problem behavior decreases.

Tiger et. al. in this article lay out the best ways to implement FCT.  They start by describing the 3 stages of FCT, describe who could benefit from FCT then continue by providing guidelines for teaching FCT that are research based.  They also tell who should implement FCT, how to teach the new response and how to transition from training to a sustainable behavior.  This article provides the collective knowledge of 91 articles on FCT!  I specifically thought the article could be useful for parents/teachers/caregivers that are facing the decision of what type of communication they want to teach their child (oral language, picture exchange or sign language).  The authors explain best practices for making this initial decision.