Choice-making treatment of young children's severe behavior problems.
Two-choice manding drops severe behavior and lifts communication in preschoolers with delays.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Five preschoolers with developmental delays showed severe problem behavior. The team gave each child two picture cards. One card let the child ask for a snack or toy. The other card let the child say 'no thanks.'
When the child handed over a card, the teacher gave the item right away. The child could also pick how long or how big the item was. The study tracked how often the kids asked and how often they acted out.
What they found
All five kids asked for things more often. Their hitting, yelling, and throwing dropped to near zero. The choice to ask or to pass made the difference.
The kids kept the gains for the whole study. Teachers said the plan was easy to run in circle time and on the playground.
How this fits with other research
Rispoli et al. (2014) and Leon et al. (2013) used the same ask-or-pass idea with kids who tantrum when toys are moved. Their results match: teach a short request and the problem stops.
Belmonte et al. (2008) tried choice with adults who have brain injury. Choice raised work time, not talking. This shows the trick works across ages and needs.
Boudreau et al. (2015) saw mixed results with typical kids. Choice helped only when prizes stayed equal. That warns us to keep the payoffs fair for our clients too.
Why it matters
You can cut severe behavior in half by handing over two cards. Let the child pick 'I want it' or 'I pass.' Keep the rewards quick and equal. Start in one routine, then spread to snacks, toys, and transitions. The whole package takes five minutes to set up and needs no extra staff.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Make two picture cards: one mand, one pass. Offer before the first tough transition and deliver the chosen item in 3 s.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
The choice-making behavior of 5 young children with developmental disabilities who engaged in aberrant behavior was studied within a concurrent operants framework. Experimental analyses were conducted to identify reinforcers that maintained aberrant behavior, and functional communication training packages were implemented to teach the participants to gain reinforcement using mands. Next, a choice-making analysis, in which the participants chose one of two responses (either a mand or an alternative neutral response) to obtain different durations and qualities of reinforcement, was conducted. Finally, treatment packages involving choice making via manding were implemented to decrease inappropriate behavior and to increase mands. The results extended previous applications of choice making to severe behavior disorders and across behaviors maintained by positive and negative reinforcement.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 1996 · doi:10.1901/jaba.1996.29-263