Open AccessAssessment and Treatment of a Foot Fetish Exhibited by an Adolescent With Autism
Author(s) -
Ansley C. Hodges,
David A. Wilder,
Hallie Ertel
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
behavior analysis in practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2196-8934
pISSN - 1998-1929
DOI - 10.1007/s40617-020-00468-1
Subject(s) - autism , psychology , foot (prosody) , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , audiology , medicine , linguistics , philosophy
We conducted a functional analysis to identify the specific features of feet responsible for evoking inappropriate sexual behavior (ISB) by an adolescent male with autism. Results showed that bare female and male feet evoked ISB. We then evaluated a treatment consisting of a rule describing appropriate and inappropriate behavior in the presence of bare feet and a verbal reprimand contingent on ISB; the combination of these was effective. Finally, as an additional treatment option, we evaluated an environmental enrichment procedure, which also reduced ISB to low levels.