Functional analysis and treatment of the bizarre speech of dually diagnosed adults.

Two adults with intellectual disability kept saying odd things that scared staff.

The team ran a functional analysis to see why the speech happened.

They tested if the words got worse when staff gave attention, escaped tasks, or happened alone.

Only the two people whose odd talk earned staff eye-contact and replies got better.

Non-contingent attention—staff chatting every 30 seconds no matter what—cut the bizarre speech.

The clients whose talk was not about getting attention did not improve.

Morris et al. (2019) repeated the same FA-then-NCR steps on a feather-plucking vulture and also saw the problem drop, showing the pattern crosses species.

Livingston et al. (2021) let parents run a 5-minute RAAT to find the right kind of attention, then treated attention-kept behavior at home—same idea, faster tool.

Fahmie et al. (2013) counted 435 FA studies and remind us most problem behavior is multiply controlled, so skipping the FA risks picking the wrong fix.

Before you use non-contingent reinforcement for odd or scary talk, run a quick functional analysis. If attention is the pay-off, schedule steady pleasant chat and the words should fade. If the FA shows escape or sensory pay-offs, pick a different plan. This keeps you from wasting weeks on the wrong treatment.