Analysis of social variables when an initial functional analysis indicates automatic reinforcement as the maintaining variable for self-injurious behavior.

Self-injurious behavior (SIB) that occurs at high rates across all conditions of a functional analysis can suggest automatic or multiple functions. In the current study, we conducted a functional analysis for 1 individual with SIB. Results indicated that SIB was, at least in part, maintained by automatic reinforcement.

ECT for self-injury in an autistic boy.

Objective: Self-injurious behavior presents a significant challenge in autism, and first-line psychopharmacological and behavioral interventions have limited efficacy in some patients. These intractable cases may be responsive to electroconvulsive therapy.

Clinical Picture: This article presents an eight-year-old boy with autism, mental retardation, prominent mood lability and a five-year history of extreme self-injurious behavior towards his head, averaging 109 self-injurious attempts hourly.

Analysis of factors that affect responding in a two-response chain in children with developmental disabilities.

A sequence of behaviors consisting of appropriate responses, inappropriate responses, or a combination of both can be linked together in a behavior chain. Several operant processes may disrupt behavior chains. For example, one or more members of the behavior chain may be affected when reinforcement is withheld for the last response in the chain (extinction), when the last response is reinforced even if it occurs without the other responses in the chain (unchaining), or when access to the terminal reinforcer is available independent of responding (satiation).

Schedule thinning following communication training: using competing stimuli to enhance tolerance to decrements in reinforcer density.

Functional communication training (FCT) is a widely used treatment for individuals with developmental disabilities who exhibit severe behavior problems. One inherent challenge of employing FCT as a treatment in the community is that reinforcement for appropriate communication cannot always be immediate or even possible in some circumstances. Of the few studies that have incorporated some form of schedule thinning for communication, most have reported disruption of communication or increases in problem behavior when the schedule of reinforcement is thinned.