FUNCTIONAL COMMUNICATION TRAINING FOR THE TREATMENT OF MULTIPLY DETERMINED CHALLENGING BEHAVIOR IN 2 BOYS WITH AUTISM

Functional communication training was used to replace multiply determi ned problem behavior in two boys with autism. Experiment 1 involved a functional analysis of several topographies of problem behavior using a variation of the procedures described by Iwata, Dorsey, Slifer, Baum an, and Richman. Results suggested that aggression, self-injury, and d isruption were multiply determined (i.e., maintained by both attention and access to preferred objects). Experiment 2 involved a multiple-ba seline design across subjects. The focus of intervention was to replac e aggression, self-injury, and disruption with functionally equivalent communicative alternatives. Both boys were taught alternative ''mands '' to recruit attention and request preferred objects. Acquisition of these alternative communication skills was associated with concurrent decreases in aggression, self-injury, and disruption. Results suggest that multiply determined challenging behavior can be decreased by teac hing an alternative communication skill to replace each assessed funct ion of the problem behavior.