Escape as a factor in the aggressive behavior of two retarded children.

Two boys with intellectual disabilities hit, bit, or kicked when staff gave them tasks.

The team ran short 10-minute sessions. Sometimes they let the boys take a break after aggression. Other times they kept the task going no matter what. They also tested giving favorite toys for finishing work.

Each condition lasted only a few days. They counted how many aggressive acts happened each session.

Aggression shot up when it produced a break. It dropped to almost zero in three different tests: when breaks followed only task completion, when the boys could ask for a break without hitting, or when staff blocked escape after aggression.

The data showed clear, steep drops. One boy went from 30 hits per session to zero in two days when breaks required compliance.

Taylor et al. (1993) later saw the same escape pattern in girls with Rett syndrome who hurt themselves. Their work extends this 1980 finding to a new topography and diagnosis.

Laposa et al. (2017) used similar tactics—differential reinforcement plus extinction—with detained teens. Swearing and gestures fell to zero, echoing the near-zero aggression seen here.

Leung (1993) surveyed over 1,000 people with learning difficulties and found aggression in only a large share. That base rate reminds us that escape-maintained aggression is a small but treatable slice of the population.

You can test escape control in under a week. Run task + escape, task + no escape, and task + reward for compliance. If aggression crashes when escape ends, you have your answer. Then pick one of three moves: deliver strong reinforcers for work, teach a simple break request, or block escape after problem behavior. All three cut aggression to zero in this study.