An evaluation of contingency strength and response suppression

Typically, functional analyses of severe problem behavior have been conducted in two ways: (a) The target response is reinforced immediately after it occurs, or (b) the target response is reinforced on some schedule thought to mimic a naturally occurring schedule. We evaluated the effects of contingency strength in reducing levels of problem behavior with 2 participants who had been diagnosed with developmental disabilities. Results showed that under a neutral contingency, one in which the probability of reinforcement for aggression was equal to the probability of reinforcement for the nonoccurrence of aggression, rates of aggression were suppressed to low levels for both participants.     

The effects of presession attention on problem behavior maintained by different reinforcers

The effect of presession attention on the later occurrence of problem behavior was examined with elementary-school children with a range of disabilities. Results of analogue functional analyses suggested an escape function, an attention function, or both. Following the analogue functional analyses, the effects of two antecedent conditions (10-min ignore vs. 10-min attention) were compared on problem behavior in subsequent test conditions. For participants who displayed attention-maintained problem behavior, the test condition involved contingent attention for problem behavior. For participants who displayed escape-maintained problem behavior, the test condition involved contingent escape for problem behavior. Results indicated that participants who displayed attention-maintained problem behavior displayed less problem behavior following presession exposure to attention than when ignored. No such effect was found for presession attention on escape-maintained problem behavior. We discuss matching antecedent-based interventions to the results of functional analysis.     

Evaluation of multiple schedules with naturally occurring and therapist‐arranged discriminative stimuli following functional communication training

Many studies have shown that (a) functional communication training (FCT) is effective for reducing problem behavior, and (b) multiple schedules can facilitate reinforcer schedule thinning during FCT. Most studies tha have used multiple schedules with FCT have included therapist‐arranged stimuli (e.g., colored cards) as the discriminative stimuli (S^Ds), but recently, researchers have evaluated similar multiple‐schedule training procedures with naturally occurring S^Ds (e.g., overt therapist behavior). The purposes of the current study were to compare the effects of arranged and naturally occurring S^Ds directly during (a) acquisition of discriminated functional communication responses (FCRs) and (b) generalization of discriminated FCRs when we introduced the multiple schedules in novel contexts in which the naturally occurring stimuli were either relatively easy or difficult to discriminate. Results showed that (a) 2 of 3 participants acquired discriminated responding of the FCR more rapidly with arranged than with naturally occurring stimuli, (b) 2 of 3 participants showed resurgence of problem behavior , and (c) 2 of 3 participants showed greater generalization of discriminated responding to novel contexts with arranged stimuli than with naturally occurring stimuli. We discuss these results relative to the conditions under which naturally occurring and arranged S^Ds may promote rapid and generalized treatment gains.     

Evaluating the effects of physical reactions on aggression via concurrent‐operant analyses

Under naturally occurring conditions, the individual who is the target of aggression is likely to physically react to evade the aggressor and avoid physical harm. Like other forms of attention that occur following problem behavior, physical reactions may maintain problem behavior. However, evaluating the effects of physical reactions is complicated by issues related to therapists' ability to consistently and safely control their reactions, which may prove difficult to achieve in functional analyses. We evaluated the utility of a concurrent‐operant analysis to test behavioral sensitivity to physical reactions. The results suggest that the concurrent‐operant analysis may be useful when therapists cannot consistently refrain from responding contingent on problem behavior in the control condition of a more typical functional analysis.     

Evaluating the boundaries of analytic efficiency and control: A consecutive controlled case series of 26 functional analyses

We conducted this study to determine if the efficiency of the functional analysis could be improved without detrimental effects on control. In Experiment 1, we reanalyzed functional analyses conducted for the problem behavior of 18 children. We analyzed rates of problem behavior during the first 5 min and first 3 min of the original 10-min sessions and evaluated if changes in the level of control over problem behavior by the programmed contingency were evident from the analyses of shorter session duration. In Experiment 2, we conducted 8 consecutive functional analyses with 3-min sessions to further evaluate the utility of brief session durations. We found that control over problem behavior was demonstrated when conducting functional analyses with sessions as brief as 3 min.     

Allocation of speech in conversation

In a replication and extension of Conger and Killeen's (1974) widely cited demonstration of matching in conversations, we evaluated nine participants’ allocation of speech and gaze to two conversational partners. German speakers participated in two 90‐min sessions in which confederates uttered approval on independent variable‐interval schedules. In one of the sessions, confederates uttered approval contingent upon and contiguous with eye contact whereas in the other session approval was uttered independent of the participant's gaze. Several measures of participants’ verbal behavior were taken, including relative duration and rate of speech and gaze. These were compared to confederates’ relative rate of approval and relative duration and rate of talk. The generalized matching equation was fitted to the various relations between participants’ behavior and confederates’ behavior. Conger and Killeen's results were not replicated; participants’ response allocation did not show a systematic relation to the confederates’ relative rate of approval. The strongest relations were to overall talk, rather than approval. In both conditions, the participant talked more to the confederate who talked less—inverse or antimatching. Participants’ gaze showed the same inverse relation to the confederates’ talk. Requiring gaze to be directed toward a confederate for delivery of approval made no difference in the results. The absence of a difference combined with prior research suggests that matching or antimatching in conversations is more likely due to induction than to reinforcement.     

A “Healthy-Contingencies” Behavioral Intervention

Interventions based on functional analyses may result in better treatment outcomes than those using arbitrary reinforcers. However, functional analyses may be impractical in some situations, or an immediate intervention may be necessary while a functional analysis is being conducted. In these situations, delivering the social reinforcers most commonly identified by functional analyses (attention, access to tangibles, and escape from demands) following appropriate behavior and withholding these events following problem behavior may improve behavior. We assessed the extent to which this type of intervention would improve child behavior with three participants. All participants engaged in moderate to high rates of problem behavior and very little appropriate requesting during baseline, and high rates of appropriate requests and reduced rates of problem behavior during treatment.     

Separating the influences of escape and access to preferred activities on problem behavior occurring in instructional contexts

Two individuals with developmental disabilities were observed to engage in destructive behavior when demands were presented, suggesting that the behaviors were maintained by negative reinforcement. Subsequent analyses revealed that (i) the behavior problems persisted when the participants were asked to cease a high‐probability, ongoing activity (walking) while demands were not presented and (ii) problem behaviors ceased when the participants were trained to request access to walking through appropriate means. These findings suggested that the presentation of demands, per se, was not the critical variable in maintaining destructive behavior. Rather, it appeared that restricting the participants from walking, which was only coincidentally necessary in the initiation of demands, set the occasion for the aberrant responses. Subsequent analyses were conducted with one participant to further strengthen this hypothesis. These findings are discussed in terms of the utility of seeking out idiosyncratic and individualized behavioral functions subsequent to initial assessments and their contribution to the growing body of literature regarding the complex interactions of destructive behavior and other naturally occurring high‐rate behaviors. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Combined antecedent variables as motivating operations within functional analyses

Functional analysis test conditions typically manipulate a single antecedent variable and an associated consequence to better isolate response-reinforcer relations. In some instances no problem behavior is observed, perhaps representing a false-negative finding. The present study evaluated one approach to assess potentially false-negative findings within functional analyses. Participants were exposed to single-antecedent functional analysis test conditions and combined-antecedent test conditions within a multielement design. Both participants engaged in problem behavior primarily during the combined-antecedent test conditions, and treatments matched to the results were effective in reducing problem behavior. Findings are discussed in terms of clinical implications of combining antecedent variables to further examine potentially false-negative functional analysis results.     

THE DEVELOPMENT OF FALSE‐POSITIVE OUTCOMES DURING FUNCTIONAL ANALYSES OF PROBLEM BEHAVIOR

False‐positive outcomes of functional analyses exist when exposure to the consequences in a condition strengthens a relation that did not previously exist. Two functional analyses (aggression and spitting) were conducted with a child with an intellectual disability. High rates of problem behavior occurred immediately in the attention condition of the functional analysis across response topographies, suggesting a clear functional response class. However, rates of aggression and spitting increased in the demand condition, following the initial block of sessions, indicating the possible creation of a novel contingent relation for spitting. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Assessment and treatment of problem behavior maintained by escape from attention and access to tangible items.

The results obtained from two consecutive functional analyses conducted with a 6‐year‐old child with autism are described. In the initial functional analysis, the highest rates of problem behavior occurred in the play condition. In that condition, the delivery of attention appeared to occasion problem behaviors. A second functional analysis was conducted wherein an escape from attention condition and a tangible condition were added. In the second functional analysis, higher rates of responding were observed in the escape from attention and tangible conditions. The results suggested that problem behavior was maintained by negative reinforcement in the form of escape from attention and positive reinforcement in the form of gaining access to preferred tangible items. Problem behavior was treated using functional communication training combined with noncontingent reinforcement.     

Latency‐based functional analysis in schools: Correspondence and differences across environments

Functional analyses were conducted for problem behavior of three girls with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Analyses conducted under analog conditions measured rate and latency. Latency‐based functional analyses were conducted in a classroom setting in multielement and reversal designs. Correspondence was identified between the standard functional analysis and the two latency analyses for one participant. Partial correspondence was found with the other two participants. These results are discussed in light of research on adaptions for functional analysis in classroom settings.     

AN ANALOGUE EVALUATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL ENRICHMENT: THE ROLE OF STIMULUS PREFERENCE

To evaluate the effects of environmental enrichment on stereotypic self-injurious behavior (SIB), we conducted an assessment of preference for manipulating alternative stimuli rather than engaging in SIB. First, for each of 3 participants, a functional analysis of SIB was conducted in Phase 1. Participants were selected for Phase 2 if the functional analysis showed that SIB persisted in the absence of social consequences. In Phase 2, a preference assessment was conducted in which participants were observed manipulating preferred stimuli in a free-operant format. A measure was taken of time spent manipulating each stimulus and time spent engaging in SIB. In Phase 3, environmental enrichment was evaluated using stimuli that were preferred over the target response, and alternative treatments were evaluated in the event of environmental enrichment failure. Results suggested that the free-operant preference assessment (a) predicted the efficacy or inefficacy of an environmental enrichment procedure and (b) suggested possible treatment alternatives when environmental enrichment was ineffective. Collectively, the results may provide a basis for interpreting the idiosyncratic effects of environmental enrichment and a rationale for treatment selection when behavioral function is unknown.