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FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS AND TREATMENT OF DESTRUCTIVE BEHAVIOR MAINTAINED BY TERMINATION OF “DON'T” (AND SYMMETRICAL “DO”) REQUESTS
Author(s) -
Fisher Wayne W.,
Adelinis John D.,
Thompson Rachel H.,
Worsdell April S.,
Zarcone Jennifer R.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of applied behavior analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1938-3703
pISSN - 0021-8855
DOI - 10.1901/jaba.1998.31-339
Subject(s) - reinforcement , psychology , functional analysis , extinction (optical mineralogy) , behavioral analysis , descriptive statistics , self destructive behavior , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , social psychology , audiology , statistics , poison control , injury prevention , medical emergency , medicine , paleontology , biochemistry , chemistry , mathematics , biology , gene
We used descriptive assessment information to generate hypotheses regarding the function of destructive behavior for 2 individuals who displayed near‐zero rates of problem behavior during an experimental functional analysis using methods similar to Iwata, Dorsey, Slifer, Bauman, and Richman (1982/1994). The descriptive data suggested that destructive behavior occurred primarily when caregivers issued requests to the participants that interfered with ongoing high‐probability (and presumably highly preferred) behaviors (i.e., a “don't” or a symmetrical “do” request). Subsequent experimental analyses showed that destructive behavior was maintained by contingent termination of “don't” and symmetrical “do” requests but not by termination of topographically similar “do” requests. These results suggested that destructive behavior may have been maintained by positive reinforcement (i.e., termination of the “don't” request allowed the individual to return to a highly preferred activity). Finally, a treatment (functional communication training plus extinction) developed on the basis of these analyses reduced destructive behavior to near‐zero levels.