Department of Special Education, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37203, USA.
Res Dev Disabil. 2013 Mar;34(3):1069-82. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2012.12.011. Epub 2013 Jan 7.
Previous studies of response classes in individuals with developmental disabilities (DD) and problem behavior have shown that mild problem behavior, precursor behavior, and mands or requests can occur as functionally equivalent to severe problem behavior in some individuals. Furthermore, participants in some studies chose to use functionally equivalent alternatives over severe problem behavior to produce the maintaining reinforcer. The present study added to this literature by having parents reinforce spontaneous requests functionally equivalent to problem behavior in their children with autism at home. First, parent-implemented functional analyses identified conditions associated with increased problem behavior and requests in two children with autism. Then, parents provided the maintaining reinforcer contingent on problem behavior alone or both problem behavior and requests in a withdrawal design. The treatment analysis indicated that the same reinforcer maintained child requests and problem behavior. In addition, when parents reinforced both requests and problem behavior, child participants demonstrated a preference for requests, thereby decreasing problem behavior. Implications of this relation for function-based treatment of problem behavior in children with autism are discussed.
先前对发育障碍（DD）和问题行为个体的反应类别的研究表明，在某些个体中，轻度问题行为、前导行为和需求或请求可以与严重问题行为具有同等功能。此外，一些研究的参与者选择使用功能等效的替代物来代替严重的问题行为，以产生维持强化物。本研究通过让父母在家中强化自闭症儿童自发提出的与问题行为功能等效的请求，进一步丰富了这一文献。首先，家长实施的功能分析确定了与两个自闭症儿童的问题行为和请求增加相关的条件。然后，父母在撤去设计中仅根据问题行为或问题行为和请求提供维持强化物。治疗分析表明，相同的强化物维持了孩子的请求和问题行为。此外，当父母同时强化请求和问题行为时，儿童参与者表现出对请求的偏好，从而减少了问题行为。讨论了这种关系对基于功能的自闭症儿童问题行为治疗的意义。
