THE EFFECTS OF PREFERENCE, CHOICE, AND ATTENTION ON PROBLEM BEHAVIOR AT SCHOOL

Reggie was an 11-year-old boy with moderate-to-severe retardation, sei zures, and behavior disorders, who frequently engaged in problem behav ior at school. These behaviors included: making a loud, high-pitched n oise (''Eee''); hitting staff, peers, and objects; throwing objects; l aying down on the floor; running away; biting others; and spitting. Th e study was conducted in two phases. The first phase focused on assess ment and included structured interviews and observations, hypothesis d evelopment, and hypothesis testing within ongoing school activities. T he interviews and observations led to hypotheses that Reggie would beh ave better when he (a) was engaged in preferred activities, (b) was gi ven choice, and (c) received attention frequently while he was engaged in appropriate behavior. Experimental analyses confirmed these hypoth eses. The second phase examined the effectiveness of an assessment-bas ed intervention that was implemented by the teaching staff. The interv ention virtually eliminated all problem behavior and resulted in appro priate behavior nearly all of the time. In addition, the effect occurr ed immediately, lasted for at least several months, and generalized to three non-targeted (generalization) problem behaviors. In addition, t he assessment-based intervention received high acceptability ratings f rom the staff; in contrast, the methods they had used previously (time -out, prompting, and redirection) received low acceptability ratings.