FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS AND TREATMENT OF MULTIPLY CONTROLLED INAPPROPRIATE MEALTIME BEHAVIOR

Functional analyses identified children whose inappropriate mealtime behavior was maintained by escape and adult attention. Function‐based extinction procedures were tested individually and in combination. Attention extinction alone did not result in decreases in inappropriate mealtime behavior or a significant increase in acceptance. By contrast, escape extinction alone resulted in a decrease in inappropriate mealtime behavior and an increase in acceptance. However, inappropriate mealtime behavior did not decrease to clinically acceptable levels. A combined extinction technique (i.e., escape and attention extinction) resulted in a decrease in inappropriate mealtime behavior to clinically acceptable levels and high and stable acceptance.