ANALYSIS OF RESPONSE CLASS HIERARCHIES WITH ATTENTION-MAINTAINED PROBLEM BEHAVIORS

• Published in: Journal of applied behavior analysis Vol. 34; no. 1; pp. 61 - 64
• Main Authors: Harding, Jay W., Wacker, David P., Berg, Wendy K., Barretto, Anjali, Winborn, Lisa, Gardner, Andrew
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2001; Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
• Subjects: Attention; Behavior disorders; Behavior modification; Behavior Therapy; Behavior therapy. Cognitive therapy; Biological and medical sciences; Child Behavior Disorders - therapy; Child, Preschool; Extinction, Psychological; Factor Analysis, Statistical; Female; functional analysis; Humans; Medical sciences; Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Reinforcement (Psychology); response class hierarchies; Treatment Outcome; Treatments; Human; Preschool age; Treatment; Extinction; Attention; Functional analysis; Behavior therapy; Child; Behavioral disorder
• ISSN: 0021-8855; 1938-3703
• DOI: 10.1901/jaba.2001.34-61

We replicated a method for clarifying inconclusive functional analysis outcomes via an extinction analysis of separate topographies of problem behavior with 2 participants. Results suggested that both mild and severe problem behaviors belonged to the same response class. An analysis of response latency was consistent with a response class hierarchy hypothesis, indicating that mild problem behavior nearly always occurred prior to severe topographies of problem behavior.