Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis · 1997 · 132 citations · 11 references
Public HealthBehavioral SciencesPsychologyAnimal BehaviorBehavior Change TheoryExperimental PsychologyAlternative CommunicationBehavior ShapingBehavior TherapyBehavioral InterventionsBehavioral MaintenanceOperant ConditioningAlternative Response ModesExtinction Of Reinforced RespondingExtinction With Differential ReinforcementResponse-reinforcer Relations
The study examined whether functional communication training can reduce self‑injurious behavior and shape an alternative communicative response while the self‑injurious behavior remains reinforced. The authors taught a manual sign to three individuals using the same reinforcer that maintained self‑injurious behavior, then tested whether the sign would compete with self‑injurious behavior when extinction was removed. When extinction was omitted, self‑injurious behavior persisted and the sign was not learned; adding extinction reduced self‑injurious behavior and increased signing, and when extinction was withdrawn the sign remained and self‑injurious behavior stayed low for two participants but returned to baseline for the third, indicating that alternative behaviors are hard to establish when the problem behavior is still reinforced but can compete once learned.
We examined the effectiveness of functional communication training (FCT) in reducing self‐injurious behavior (SIB) and in shaping an alternative (communicative) response while SIB continued to be reinforced. Following a functional analysis of 3 individuals' SIB, we attempted to teach an alternative response consisting of a manual sign to each individual, using the reinforcer that maintained SIB. When FCT was implemented without extinction, SIB remained at baseline rates for all participants, and none of the participants acquired the alternative response. When extinction was added to the training procedure, SIB decreased and manual signing increased for all participants. To determine if signing, when established, would compete with SIB when both were reinforced, extinction was then withdrawn. Signing was maintained and SIB occurred at low rates for 2 individuals, but SIB returned to baseline rates for the 3rd individual, necessitating the reimplementation of extinction. These results suggest that it may be difficult to establish alternative behaviors if inappropriate behavior continues to be reinforced, but that, when established, alternative behavior might compete successfully with ongoing contingencies of reinforcement for inappropriate behavior.
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TOWARD A FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF SELF‐INJURY
Brian A. Iwata, Michael F. Dorsey, Keith J. Slifer et al. · Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis · 1994 · 2.6K citations · Full text