What is the goal of functional assessment?

Round 14 of the Showdown debates the motion: The goal of a functional assessment is to identify a function that will inform treatment. Our debaters, Dr. Jeffrey Tiger and Dr. Mahshid Ghaemmaghami, are influential contributors to the field of behavior analysis. You can find their work in behavior analysis’s leading journals and they have helped shape and guide countless professionals throughout their careers. Our field owes each of them a great debt and we couldn’t be more excited with the insight they shared through this debate. During this debate, Dr. Tiger and Dr. G constructed defenses of both sides to present the audience with a comprehensive and balanced view.