Treatment of multiply controlled destructive behavior with food reinforcement.

The team worked with kids who hit, bit, or threw things for many reasons.

They let the children choose: ask for a snack with words or signs, or keep the problem behavior.

Both choices stayed open—no one blocked the hitting and no breaks were taken away.

Almost every time, the kids asked for the snack and skipped the destructive acts.

Food beat problem behavior even though the problem still produced its usual pay-off.

Kahng et al. (1999) saw the same power struggle two years earlier with escape-only kids.

They also found edibles won over break time without any extinction, so the new study widens the win to multiply-controlled behavior.

Carter (2010) later added a head-to-head race: edibles and toys still lowered escape behavior while extinction stayed on the bench, backing up the core idea across more kids and reinforcers.

Bonner et al. (2022) then asked, "Do edibles last when we thin the schedule?" Tokens kept up for most, showing the edible edge holds even when bites come slower.

You can start treatment right away without blocking or withholding. Pick the child’s top food, teach a simple request, and let the snack do the heavy lifting. Problem behavior drops as communication rises—no battle, just choice.