Assessment & Treatment of Escape & Avoidance Behaviors becomes clinically important the moment a team has to turn good intentions into reliable action inside case conceptualization, intervention design, staff training, and literature-informed problem solving. In Assessment & Treatment of Escape & Avoidance Behaviors, for this course, the practical stakes show up in stronger conceptual consistency and better translational decision making, not in abstract discussion alone.
Provider: BehaviorLive — via BABAT
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Join Free →Reviews of functional analysis research indicate that the prevalence of escape-maintained challenging behavior ranges between 21.1% and 46.8% in the population receiving functional analyses (Melanson & Fahmie, 2022; Solnick & Ardoin, 2010). When working with clients who engage in escape-maintained challenging behavior, it is important to identify and treat idiosyncratic variables impacting the escape behaviors. This symposium will include three studies conducted to evaluate treatments for escape and avoidance behaviors. The first study targeted reducing aggression following errors during an adaptive physical education task. Functional communication training (FCT) plus systematic desensitization were implemented following errors. Toleration of errors was evaluated using a changing criterion design. Results showed that FCT combined with systematic desensitization effectively reduced the occurrence of aggression following errors. The second study evaluated the occurrence of challenging behavior during a handwriting lesson to determine the aversive aspect of the task. An ABAB reversal compared writing the individual's last name to an anagram of their last name. The results of the assessment indicated that challenging behavior only occurred during the last name condition and never during the anagram condition, indicating aversion to the name rather than the task. The third study targeted the identification of a preferred escape modality for challenging behavior maintained by access to escape. A treatment evaluation was conducted which included three functional communicative responses: two in the form of help, as well as one in the form of a break. A multi-element design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of each FCR on reducing instances of challenging behavior. The results indicated that both forms of help were associated with lower levels of challenging behavior compared to a request for a break from demands. Limitations and future directions will be discussed.
| Certification Body | Credits | Type |
|---|---|---|
| BACB® | 1 | General |
Dig into the research behind this topic — plain-English summaries written for BCBAs.
280 research articles with practitioner takeaways
279 research articles with practitioner takeaways
252 research articles with practitioner takeaways
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All behavior-analytic intervention is individualized. The information on this page is for educational purposes and does not constitute clinical advice. Treatment decisions should be informed by the best available published research, individualized assessment, and obtained with the informed consent of the client or their legal guardian. Behavior analysts are responsible for practicing within the boundaries of their competence and adhering to the BACB Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts.