The aim of this paper was to present the results of the functional behavioral assessment conducted on nail biting behavior. Several indirect and direct methods are used to determine a potential function of the nail biting behavior. First, the record review was conducted and then a comprehensive open-ended behavioral interview followed by the A-B-C charts, a direct method for data collection. The results of these methods helped to generate the hypothesis of the underlying function of the target behavior and design a functional analysis to experimentally test it. The functional analysis multielement design is proposed and hypothetical results discussed. Finally, a behavior modification plan based on results of the functional analysis is presented.

Keywords: nail biting, functional behavioral assessment, functional analysis

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Functional behavioral assessment serves to examine the antecedents to and consequences of a target problem behavior (Luiselli, 2011). In other words, it examines environmental conditions that precede the target behavior and the conditions that follow the behavior (Sulzer-Azaroff & Mayer, 1991). Functional behavioral assessment is data collection approach that is derived from operant view of behavior put forward by Skinner (Luiselli, 2011). It is based on the three-term contingency of a discriminative stimulus, the response, and the reinforcer (Luiselli, 2011). The discriminative stimulus is defined as a specific form of antecedent event that indicates that there is a reinforcement available as a consequence of the behavior, and the behavioral response should be emitted (Luiselli, 2011). The reinforcer refers to a specific event or a consequence that increases the probability of that response being emitted again in the future (Luiselli, 2011).

The â€œA-B-C sequenceâ€ in the functional behavioral assessment is very similar concept to the three-term contingency (Luiselli, 2011). The main difference between the two is that the three-term contingency is more precise and makes distinction between antecedent events as discriminative stimuli and distinguishes consequences as reinforcers (Luiselli, 2011). This is very important when trying to determine what events actually reinforce the target behavior, because conducting indirect assessment or direct observations usually is not enough (Luiselli, 2011).

The basic assumption of functional behavior assessment is that repeated pairing of selected antecedents and consequences results in the individual learning to emit the response when antecedent is present (Sulzer-Azaroff & Mayer, 1991). The individual will learn that the

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