Assessment and treatment of problem behavior maintained by escape from attention and access to tangible items

The current study describes the assessment and treatment of the problem behavior of 3 individuals with autism for whom initial functional analysis results were inconclusive. Subsequent analyses revealed that the interruption of free-operant behavior using ‘‘do’ ’ requests (Study 1) as well as ‘‘do’ ’ and ‘‘don’t’ ’ requests (Study 2) occasioned problem behavior. Initially, treatment involved differential and noncontingent reinforcement without interruption. To make the intervention more sustainable in the natural environment (where interruptions are unavoidable), a two-component multiple-schedule arrangement was used to progressively increase the period of time in which ongoing activities would be interrupted. During generalization sessions, the intervention was applied across a variety of contexts and therapists. DESCRIPTORS: ‘‘do’ ’ requests, ‘‘don’t’ ’ requests, motivating operations, establishing operations, extinction, multiple schedule