Discriminated functional communication: a procedural extension of functional communication training.
Use your own busy-or-free body language to teach kids when requests will work.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Two children with developmental delay kept asking for attention even when adults were busy.
The team taught them to look at the adult first. If the adult was free, the child could tap and talk. If the adult was busy, no tap, no talk.
No extra cards or pictures were used. The adult’s body language was the only cue.
What they found
Both kids learned the rule fast. They asked for attention only when adults looked free.
Challenging behavior dropped to almost zero. Requests stayed high, but only at the right time.
How this fits with other research
Al-Jawahiri et al. (2019) pooled 28 studies and found the same: kids who learn when to ask do better after FCT.
Murphy et al. (2014) took the next step. When children still asked at the wrong time, the team blocked wrong requests and let only correct ones work. That study extends the 2010 idea by adding a safety net for kids who need extra help telling the difference.
Boyle et al. (2021) added an activity schedule during thinning. Kids stayed busy and problem behavior stayed low. You can stack that schedule on top of natural caregiver cues.
Why it matters
You do not need new tools. Watch your own body. When you look busy, keep your back turned or stay quiet. When you are free, face the child and smile. In one session you can teach this rule and cut attention-seeking problem behavior without extra cards or timers.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →During FCT, turn away and stay silent when busy; face the child and make eye contact when free—let the natural cue teach the rule.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
A limitation associated with communication-based interventions for problem behavior is the potential for requesting reinforcement at high rates. Multiple-schedule arrangements have been demonstrated to be effective for controlling rates of responding (Hanley, Iwata, & Thompson, 2001). In the current study, we extended previous research by teaching individuals to attend to naturally occurring discriminative stimuli (e.g., caregiver behavior) instead of arbitrary stimuli (e.g., picture cards). Following successful treatment with functional communication and extinction, 2 participants were taught to request attention differentially based on whether the caregiver was engaging in a variety of "busy" (e.g., talking on the phone) or "nonbusy" (e.g., reading a magazine) activities. Following training, each participant engaged in communication primarily when caregivers were engaged in nonbusy activities.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 2010 · doi:10.1901/jaba.2010.43-249