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AbstractFunctional analyses are used to assess maintaining variables of behavior. Despite the large amount of research on functional analyses with humans, there are limited examples with nonhumans and even fewer studies incorporating modifications to standard methods of assessment with nonhumans. One modification that has yet to be evaluated with nonhuman animals is the trial‐based functional analysis in which control and test conditions are embedded in naturalistic environments. This study compared a standard functional analysis with a trial‐based functional analysis across different topographies of problem behavior with dogs. The results of the functional analyses corresponded for every dog. Individualized treatments were designed to reduce problem behavior. Implications of the trial‐based functional analysis include feasibility for privately owned dogs and dogs under the care of shelters. The trial‐based functional analysis offers a modification to established functional analyses that may allow increased access to the assessment of problem behavior.

AbstractInappropriate mealtime behavior (IMB) is a class of food refusal behavior that is commonly observed in children with neurodevelopmental disorders or avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder. An abundance of research has demonstrated that IMB is commonly maintained by negative reinforcement in the form of escape from food or drink presentation. Given the common association between IMB and escape as a reinforcer, more efficient methods of conducting functional analyses have been called for. The present study examined the extent to which indirect assessments and a functional analysis screening process reliably predicted an escape function in three children with autism spectrum disorder who engaged in IMB. The results of the two assessments were then compared to a standard functional analysis. For all participants, the functional analysis identified an escape function, which corresponded with both the indirect assessment and screening. Additionally, within‐session analyses of screening sessions further validated the screening process. The functional analysis screening of IMB is discussed in terms of its efficiency, practicality, and experimental design. The results of this study offer a framework for efficiently assessing the function of IMB, while providing recommendations for future research.

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AbstractFunctional communication training is an effective intervention for establishing an appropriate, alternative response that produces the functional reinforcer maintaining challenging behavior. Once the alternative response is established, it is differentially reinforced—typically using dense schedules—while challenging behavior is placed on extinction. After achieving clinically significant reductions in challenging behavior, reinforcement schedule thinning is conducted to promote the maintenance of the alternative response under more practical reinforcement schedules. In the current study, we compared two different methods for thinning the schedule of reinforcement for the alternative response to a terminal schedule. One method, referred to as the dense‐to‐lean (DTL) approach, involves gradually decreasing the density of alternative reinforcement over successive sessions until the terminal schedule is reached. Another method, referred to as the fixed‐lean (FL) approach, involves abruptly decreasing the density of alternative reinforcement by rapidly transitioning to the terminal schedule. Whereas the former approach has been evaluated extensively within the applied literature, the latter approach has not been the focus of much empirical work in either the clinic or the laboratory. An alternating treatment design was used to directly compare these approaches, both of which included noncontingent access to competing stimuli. Participants achieved clinically significant reductions in challenging behavior at the terminal schedule more readily with the FL than the DTL approach. The results are further discussed in terms of the efficacy and efficiency for both approaches, the potential mediating effect of competing stimuli, and implications for future research.

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AbstractRenewal is a relapse phenomenon that refers to the recurrence of a previously reduced behavior following a change in stimulus conditions. Muething et al. (2022) examined the phenomenology of renewal among individuals with automatically maintained challenging behavior treated at an outpatient clinic. We replicated their findings by retrospectively examining renewal across various topographies of automatically maintained behavior treated at an inpatient hospital, and we extended their work by also examining differences across subtypes of automatically maintained self‐injurious behavior. The prevalence of renewal was comparable to that observed by Muething et al., supporting the notion that automatically maintained challenging behavior is susceptible to relapse phenomena. Furthermore, renewal was twice as likely to occur for individuals with Subtype 2 versus Subtype 1 self‐injurious behavior, providing additional evidence of behavioral differentiation between subtypes. Our findings suggest that even after apparent stability in treatment, practitioners should remain vigilant for the recurrence of automatically maintained behavior during generalization.