Functional Communication Training: Steps, Examples and a Data Sheet

Estimated reading time: 15 minutes

Functional communication training (FCT) is a set of practices that replaces a challenging behavior that has a communication function with a more appropriate and effective way to communicate, such as a word, a sign, a picture card or a device message, which gets the student the same outcome the behavior used to get. It starts from a functional behavior assessment (FBA), was first described by Carr and Durand in 1985, and is one of the 28 evidence-based practices identified by the National Clearinghouse on Autism Evidence and Practice (NCAEP) in 2020. This guide covers the steps, examples, a data sheet, FCT in the behavior intervention plan (BIP) and IEP goals, and AAC. It describes school practice: the IEP team and the behavior specialist or Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) individualize each plan.

Executive Summary

FCT is the most published function-based treatment for challenging behavior, according to a 2008 review of 91 FCT articles covering 204 participants (Tiger, Hanley and Bruzek). The behavior served to escape demands in 43% of cases, to get attention in 32% and to get materials in 29%; some behaviors had more than one function.

School staff can deliver it: the same review cites studies of FCT implemented by school teachers and staff with minimal involvement from trained clinicians. The hard part is honoring every request at first, then thinning reinforcement until the plan fits a real classroom.

What Is Functional Communication Training?

Functional communication training is a differential reinforcement procedure in which a student learns a recognizable communication response that produces the same reinforcer that has been maintaining a challenging behavior, while that behavior no longer produces it (Tiger, Hanley and Bruzek, 2008).

In their 1985 study, Carr and Durand found that low adult attention and hard tasks set off aggression, tantrums and self-injury, then taught four children with developmental disabilities to ask adults for attention or help, and the behavior problems dropped. Their reasoning still frames FCT: some behavior problems are “a nonverbal means of communication,” so a request that serves the same function can replace them.

In applied behavior analysis (ABA), FCT is a form of differential reinforcement of alternative behavior in which the alternative is a recognizable form of communication. NCAEP lists 31 single-case studies of FCT with autistic learners from preschool through high school, and AFIRM, the free training modules built on the NCAEP review, updated its FCT materials in 2025.

How FCT Fits IDEA: The FBA, the BIP and the IEP

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) does not name FCT, but its regulations create the places where it is written.

• Behavior that impedes learning: the IEP team must consider “positive behavioral interventions and supports, and other strategies” (34 CFR 300.324(a)(2)(i)).
• Discipline: when conduct is a manifestation of the disability, the team conducts an FBA, unless one was done before the behavior, and implements a BIP or reviews the existing one (34 CFR 300.530(f)); see manifestation determination.
• Goals and supports: the IEP includes measurable annual goals and supports for school personnel, such as staff training on the plan (34 CFR 300.320(a)(2) and (a)(4)).

The assessment is covered in our guide to the functional behavior assessment, and the plan in our behavior intervention plan guide. This summary is not legal advice; check your state’s rules and district counsel.

The Steps of Functional Communication Training

This guide organizes FCT into seven steps, drawn from the AFIRM FCT brief (2025 update) and the research reviews cited below.

Step 1: Confirm the Function With an FBA

FCT works only when the new response produces the reinforcer that maintains the behavior, so it starts with an FBA. In a 2018 review of school studies of FCT with augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), FCT was more effective when informed by a descriptive FBA (Walker et al., 2018); AFIRM asks whether the FBA was collected through direct observation of the student.

Step 2: Choose a Replacement Response That Is Easier Than the Behavior

AFIRM lists three checks: the response serves the same function, its form fits the student’s current communication skills, and it takes little effort at first. In Horner and Day (1991), a response that took more effort, or paid off less often or more slowly than the behavior, did not compete with it until a more efficient one was taught. Tiger and colleagues add: pick a form unfamiliar adults will recognize. Fuller forms come later.

Step 3: Teach the Response With Prompts, Then Fade Them

AFIRM teaches the response with a most-to-least prompt hierarchy, starting at the help the student needs and fading it, with time delay as an option. Tiger and colleagues note that least-to-most prompting lets the behavior occur first, which can build an unwanted chain of behavior then request; most-to-least prompts the request as soon as the triggering situation begins. Combine planned practice sessions with practice in real routines. See our guide to the prompt hierarchy.

Step 4: Reinforce Every Request at First

Every early request must work, quickly. All FCT studies reviewed by Tiger and colleagues reinforced each communication response at first, and they strongly recommend it; AFIRM adds many planned opportunities to practice. An ignored request teaches the student that the old behavior is more reliable.

Step 5: Plan the Response to the Challenging Behavior

The plan states what adults do when the behavior still happens, and in FCT the behavior is typically placed on extinction: it no longer produces the reinforcer. Tiger and colleagues report that FCT without extinction frequently fails to reduce behavior enough, and a 2023 review says extinction should be used when possible (Kranak and Brown). AFIRM describes ignoring the behavior and blocking access to its outcome; for escape, the task stays. When adults cannot control the reinforcer, such as peer attention, Tiger and colleagues advise making the request pay off better: faster, longer or more often.

Behavior “will sometimes get worse before it gets better” (IRIS Center). Plans for dangerous behavior follow state law on restraint and seclusion.

Step 6: Thin Reinforcement Until the Plan Fits the Classroom

Schedule thinning makes reinforcement for the request gradually less immediate or less frequent, because no classroom can honor every request instantly. Tiger and colleagues warn that an abrupt switch can extinguish the request and bring the behavior back. Main methods, as summarized by Kranak and Brown (2023), who updated a 2011 review by Hagopian and colleagues:

Delays alone often erode the request: in Hanley, Iwata and Thompson (2001), growing delays extinguished it, while a signaled schedule kept behavior low with 4 minutes without reinforcement followed by 1 minute with it. Kranak and Brown recommend signals, small steps when behavior is severe, and going back a step when behavior returns. In a 2023 review of chained and tandem schedules, behavior resurged in 77% of cases (Torelli and Pickren).

Step 7: Generalize Across People and Settings

Every adult must know the response, because a request that fails with one adult can send the student back to the behavior (AFIRM), and training in a single setting does not reliably generalize (Tiger and colleagues). In Durand and Carr (1991), three students’ gains transferred to new tasks, settings and teachers and generally held for 18 to 24 months.

Functional Communication Training Examples by Function

The function decides the request: a student who tears a worksheet to escape it learns to ask for help or a break, while a student who grabs a tablet learns to ask for a turn. Adapt these original examples to each FBA.

Sensory or automatic functions call for caution. Tiger and colleagues describe FCT as appropriate for behavior maintained by social reinforcement, and AFIRM notes that stereotypic or repetitive behaviors may not serve a clear communicative function. The behavior specialist decides whether FCT fits.

Example: From FBA Hypothesis to an FCT Plan

This original example is about a fictional student; adapt it to your FBA data and forms.

The help card matters: Tiger and colleagues caution that stopping at escape requests leaves students avoiding important work.

Functional Communication Training Data Sheet

An FCT data sheet records both behaviors in the same opportunities: the request with its prompt level, whether it was honored and how fast, and the challenging behavior. This layout is an example to adapt; AFIRM’s replacement-behavior form records similar fields.

Graph requests and incidents weekly. Kranak and Brown cite an 80% reduction from baseline as a common clinical benchmark; the team sets its own. More formats are in IEP data collection sheets.

FCT in the Behavior Intervention Plan and IEP Goals

In the BIP, FCT fills the replacement behavior section; in the IEP, it becomes a measurable goal for the communication response, often with a criterion for the challenging behavior. These goals are original examples to adapt; more are in behavior IEP goals.

1. Escape: By the annual review, during writing and math tasks, Theo will hand his break or help card instead of sweeping or tearing materials in 8 of 10 opportunities without prompts, as measured by FCT data sheets.
2. Attention: By the annual review, during independent work, Maya will raise her hand or say “Look at my work” to get teacher attention, with 2 or fewer call-outs per period in 4 of 5 periods, as measured by event recording.
3. Waiting: By the annual review, when told “not right now” after asking for the tablet, Eli will say or sign “okay” and complete a waiting task for up to 3 minutes without grabbing in 4 of 5 opportunities, as measured by event recording.
4. AAC request: By the annual review, when a task is hard, Lina will select “help” on her communication device within 5 seconds in 80% of opportunities across three settings, as measured by FCT data sheets.

Coping goals also belong in social emotional IEP goals.

AAC as the Communication Response

For a student with little or no speech, the FCT response is often an AAC response: a sign, a picture card or a message on a speech-generating device. Walker and colleagues’ 2018 review found that FCT involving AAC in schools reduced challenging behavior and increased AAC use, with larger effects in inclusive settings. Coordinate with the speech-language pathologist (SLP) so the FCT message is on the student’s system in every setting; see our guides to AAC IEP goals and assistive technology for students with disabilities.

Common Mistakes District Leaders Make

1. Skipping the FBA. A guessed function produces a request that earns the wrong thing.
2. Choosing a response harder than the behavior. A full sentence will not compete with a shove.
3. Missing requests in the first weeks. Lapses are a known trigger of resurgence.
4. Thinning too fast, or never. Write the steps and criteria into the BIP.
5. Training one adult in one room. Every adult must honor the same card.
6. Letting the break become the goal. Teach help requests and task completion too.
7. Counting incidents only. Without request data, nobody knows why behavior changed.

Questions District Leaders Should Ask

• How many BIPs name a communication replacement tied to the FBA’s function?
• Do substitutes and specials teachers know each student’s request?
• How many FCT plans reached a thinning step this year?
• Who reviews FCT data, and how often?

Frequently Asked Questions

What is functional communication training in ABA?

In applied behavior analysis, functional communication training is a differential reinforcement procedure: the student learns a recognizable communication response, such as a word, sign, picture or device message, that produces the same reinforcer as a challenging behavior, while the behavior stops paying off. It begins with a functional behavior assessment and was first described by Carr and Durand in 1985.

How does functional communication training address problem behavior?

It removes the reason for the behavior. The FBA shows what the behavior gets the student, such as escape, attention or an item; FCT teaches an easier request that gets the same thing, honored every time at first, while the behavior no longer works. Reinforcement is then thinned to fit daily routines.

What is an example of functional communication training?

A second grader tears his paper during long writing tasks, and the FBA shows he does it to escape writing. Staff teach him to hand a “break please” card, which earns a two-minute break every time at first, while tearing no longer ends the task. Over weeks, the break follows one sentence, then two, then four.

Is functional communication training an antecedent intervention?

Not mainly. NCAEP lists antecedent-based interventions and functional communication training as separate evidence-based practices: antecedent strategies change what happens before the behavior, while FCT teaches a communication response and changes which response is reinforced. Plans often combine them, such as shortening a task while teaching the student to ask for help.

What does functional communication training teach?

It teaches a student to communicate the need behind a behavior: asking for help, a break, attention, an item or a turn, and later accepting “wait” or “not right now.” The form fits the student: speech, a sign, a picture card or a communication device. Adults learn to answer each request consistently.

Can functional communication training be used for elopement?

Yes, when the FBA shows that leaving gets the student something, such as escape from a task or access to a preferred activity. AFIRM lists elopement among the behaviors FCT can address, with a replacement such as asking to go to the activity. Safety measures stay in the plan while the request is taught.

Related Resources

• Functional Behavior Assessment
• Behavior Intervention Plan
• Behavior IEP Goals
• Prompt Hierarchy
• AAC IEP Goals
• IEP Data Collection Sheets

Conclusion

Functional communication training works when the request truly replaces the behavior: same function, less effort, honored every time at first, then thinned in small, signaled steps with every adult. Districts that require an FBA, write the steps into the BIP and track requests alongside incidents give students a better way to be heard.

Sources: Carr and Durand, Reducing Behavior Problems Through Functional Communication Training, Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (1985); Steinbrenner et al., Evidence-Based Practices for Children, Youth, and Young Adults with Autism, NCAEP (2020); AFIRM, Functional Communication Training Brief Packet (2025 update); Tiger, Hanley and Bruzek, Functional Communication Training: A Review and Practical Guide (2008); Hagopian, Boelter and Jarmolowicz, Reinforcement Schedule Thinning Following Functional Communication Training: Review and Recommendations (2011); Kranak and Brown, Updated Recommendations for Reinforcement Schedule Thinning Following Functional Communication Training (2023); Horner and Day, The Effects of Response Efficiency on Functionally Equivalent Competing Behaviors (1991); Walker et al., A Systematic Review of Functional Communication Training Interventions Involving AAC in School Settings (2018); IRIS Center, Behavioral Intervention Plans: Developing a Plan to Address Student Behavior. Other studies and sections of 34 CFR Part 300 are linked where they are cited.

Join the 2027 Special Education Pilot

An FCT plan is designed and carried out by the IEP team, while the communication skills in a student’s IEP goals still grow through many repetitions of practice, and adult 1-on-1 time is scarce. Telo AI is being adapted for students with IEPs: patient, 1-on-1 practice aligned to each student’s IEP goals, including speaking practice and social-emotional learning, with teachers setting the goals, topics and rules. It is a practice tool that does not diagnose or treat any condition. We are inviting districts to shape it with us in a 2027 pilot.

Apply to pilot Telo AI in your Special Education program