Systematic Review of Problem Behavior Interventions: Outcomes, Demographics, and Settings.

Interventions designed to decrease problem behavior for students with ASD are critical and may be differentially important for students from minority groups as those students tend to be assigned more negative outcomes related to problem behavior (e.g., suspensions). School-based interventions intended to decrease problem behavior for individuals with ASD were reviewed; 46 articles including 84 single case designs and 87 participants were analyzed regarding participant demographics, settings and implementers, intervention components, and study characteristics. We assessed outcomes for 55 demonstration designs with adequate rigor. Most research was conducted with students in segregated settings and, although race and ethnicity were rarely reported, proportions were different from other reviews in that children from some minority groups were overrepresented.

The acquisition of problem behavior in individuals with developmental disabilities as a behavioral cusp.

A behavioral cusp has been defined as a behavior change that produces contact with new contingencies with important and far-reaching consequences. The concept of behavioral cusps has most frequently been used to select target skills taught to learners and to evaluate the importance of those skills; however, the concept is equally applicable to behavior changes that bring about important and far-reaching negative consequences. Although it has been acknowledged that socially undesirable behavior change can also qualify as a behavioral cusp, this area of the cusp concept has been under-examined. In this article, an undesirable behavior change, the acquisition of problem behavior in individuals with developmental disabilities, is compared with criteria for behavioral cusps previously identified in the literature. The advantages of viewing problem behavior as a behavioral cusp are outlined, and implications for practice and research from a behavioral cusp approach to problem behavior are provided.

Increased parent reinforcement of spontaneous requests in children with autism spectrum disorder: effects on problem behavior.

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.