A descriptive analysis of potential reinforcement contingencies in the preschool classroom.
Teacher attention already follows problem behavior in preschool, so your FA attention condition mirrors real life.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team watched 14 preschoolers for two weeks. They timed every problem behavior and every bit of teacher attention. No toys were changed. No one gave extra praise. They just mapped what was already happening.
Each child was taped during normal circle-time and free-play. Observers coded what the child did and what the teacher did next, second by second.
What they found
For every child, the teacher looked or talked to the child right after problem behavior. Clean-up refusals, loud noises, or minor hits were followed by “Stop that” or a comforting hug within five seconds.
The same attention rarely came when the child was quiet or working. In plain numbers, teacher attention was four times more likely after problem behavior than after appropriate play.
How this fits with other research
Stagnone et al. (2025) later used this fact to treat repetitive questions in kids with autism. They ran the same attention condition, proved the questions were attention-seeking, then taught a simple “Excuse me” mand. The behavior dropped just like the preschool data predicted.
Leon et al. (2010) took it further. After their FA showed attention function, they trained attention mands during natural reading time. Effects spread to snack and gym without extra teaching.
Phillips et al. (2017) looked back at 27 severe cases. When the FA said “attention,” non-contingent attention worked in 14 of the kids. The classroom map from DeRoma et al. (2004) helped explain why: the reinforcer was already in the room.
Guerrero et al. (2022) seems to disagree at first. They found structured FA rules alone misread meal-time behavior 30 % of the time. But the issue was setting, not attention. In preschool play their advice is the same: keep watching the data as it unfolds.
Why it matters
You can trust your attention condition. The reinforcer you deliver in FA is the same one the child gets every day. If the FA shows an attention function, start treatment with attention-based moves like NCR or FCT. You already know they work in the real classroom.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
In recent years, functional analysis methods have been extended to classroom settings; however, research has not evaluated the extent to which consequences presented during functional analysis are associated with problem behavior under naturalistic classroom conditions. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine whether the social consequences commonly manipulated in functional analyses occur in typical preschool classrooms. A total of 14 children attending preschool programs participated in the study. Data were collected on the occurrence of antecedent events (e.g., presentation of tasks), child behaviors (e.g., aggression), and teacher responses (e.g., delivery of attention). The probability of various teacher responses given child behavior was then calculated and compared to the response-independent probabilities of teacher responses. Attention was found to be the most common classroom consequence (100% of children), followed by material presentation (79% of children), and escape from instructional tasks (33% of children). Comparisons of conditional and response-independent probabilities showed that the probability of teacher attention increased given the occurrence of problem behavior for all children, suggesting that a contingency existed between these two events. Results suggest that functional analyses that test the effects of attention, escape, and access to materials on problem behavior may be appropriate for preschool settings.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 2004 · doi:10.1901/jaba.2004.37-431