1st half a page short essay: reading: When you use the word “behavior” in conve

1st half a page short essay:
reading: When you use the word “behavior” in conversation, you may be referring to anything from the day’s weather to the failure of the photocopier machine to produce desired results. When psychologists use the term behavior, they think about more than the observed activity. They also consider what the behavior achieves for the person. This function of behavior is important in understanding why the behavior is repeated.
For this short essay, you will analyze a scenario from the perspective of functions of behavior. You will consider the circumstances of the case and describe what you believe to be the function of the observed behavior. You will also develop a hypothesis regarding the observed behavior and share ideas for how the hypothesis could be tested.
Consider the following scenario:
Amanda is a 14-year-old regular education student in the eighth grade. She lives with her biological father and stepmother. There are no other children in the home. The chief concern is that Amanda often visits the school nurse’s office with complaints of headache and nausea. The typical course of action is to provide her with ibuprofen and, if this fails to resolve her complaints, her parents are called to take her home or to her physician. These events occur about 10 percent of school days and always during the afternoon. Her symptoms and their rate of occurrence have remained unchanged for several weeks. Her parents, who are quite concerned about her health, have scheduled an evaluation by a pediatric neurologist.
Post your response to the following:
What hypotheses do you have about the function of Amanda’s behavior?
How might you test these hypotheses?
2nd half a page short essay instructions:
If you have ever shopped online, you probably have some familiarity with the value of ratings. Items are often ranked based on customer reviews, and you may choose to consider products by first considering their ratings.
Psychologists use a variety of tools and techniques to assess behavior, but one of the more established techniques is also based on ratings. Behavior rating scales are typically used to assess problem behaviors and social skills. They are often used to assess behavior in children by creating a scale that can help quantitatively measure the behavior being observed, allowing the observer to rank behaviors in terms of intensity, frequency, duration, or other such measures.
For this short essay, you will analyze two existing behavior rating scales. You will also consider how you would apply these scales in your practice.
Two of the most common behavior rating scales are the Behavioral Assessment System for Children (3rd ed.) and the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (formally called the Child Behavior Checklist, CBCL). Using the Walden Library databases, access the Mental Measurements Yearbook (MMY) and look up and review both of these rating scales.
Post your response to the following:
Write a description of each scale, including what measures, age range, and other pertinent information are available in the MMY review.
Describe how you would possibly use each scale in your practice.
Elaborate on the uses of behavior rating scales in the practice of behavior analysis.
Be sure to support your posts and responses with specific references to behavior-analytic theory and research. In addition to the Learning Resources, search  the internet for peer-reviewed articles to support your posts and responses. Use proper APA format and citations, including those in the Learning Resources.