MULTIPLE FUNCTIONS OF PROBLEM BEHAVIORS: ASSESSMENT AND INTERVENTION

TLDR

The study conducted functional analyses on three adults with severe intellectual disabilities under two conditions—escape from tasks and access to preferred items—and then delivered functional communication training separately in each condition. Results showed that each participant’s problem behavior was maintained by both escape and attention contingencies, and that behavior decreased only in the condition where communication training was applied, reaching clinically acceptable levels only after training in both conditions, underscoring the need for interventions targeting multiple functions.

Abstract

Three individuals with severe intellectual disabilities participated in separate analyses of problem behavior. In each case, a functional analysis was conducted under two parallel conditions. In one condition, self-injury or aggression resulted in escape from difficult tasks; in the second condition, the same problem behavior resulted in access to preferred items. Results indicated that the problem behaviors for each participant were maintained by both types of contingencies. Functional communication training was then delivered first in one condition and then in the second. After each participant was trained in a functionally equivalent mode of communication for one condition, levels of problem behavior decreased in that condition but not in the untrained condition. Only after separate communication forms were trained in both conditions was problem behavior reduced to clinically acceptable levels. These results document three examples of problem behaviors under multiple control, and emphasize the need to organize interventions that address different contingencies of reinforcement that maintain the same problem behavior.