An analysis of maladaptive behaviors in persons with autism, PDD-NOS, and mental retardation.

The team gave the Questions About Behavioral Functions rating scale to adults with autism, PDD-NOS, or intellectual disability. They wanted to see which consequences kept three problem behaviors going: aggression, stereotypy, and self-injury.

Each person’s caregiver filled out the QABF. The study then looked at the most common function for each behavior type, not for each diagnosis.

Aggression was usually kept alive by attention. Stereotypy was almost always nonsocial. Self-injury showed no clear pattern.

The main point: the form of the behavior predicted its function, not the label of autism or ID.

Cramm et al. (2009) asked the same questions in a large residential facility and got the same answer: aggression = attention. This boosts your confidence that the link is real across settings.

Lawer et al. (2009) moved the idea to autistic children in an outpatient clinic. Again, social reinforcement topped the list. The pattern holds from adults to kids and from ID to ASD.

Yuwiler et al. (1992) seems to disagree. Their two adults’ aggression cycled with bipolar mood, not with staff attention. The gap is about method: daily mood charts versus one-time QABF. Track both and you catch biological and social triggers.

Stop guessing functions from the diagnosis card. Start by asking what the behavior itself gets the person. If it’s aggression, test an attention extinction first, no matter the label. If it’s stereotypy, look for sensory payoff. If it’s SIB, run full functional analyses—social and nonsocial—because the QABF alone may not tell the story.