ESCAPE BEHAVIOR IN TASK SITUATIONS - TASK VERSUS SOCIAL ANTECEDENTS

We designed an investigation to differentiate two types of challenging behaviors occurring in teaching situations: those evoked by task stim uli (i.e., task avoidance), and those evoked by social stimuli present in teaching situations (i.e., social avoidance). Four students with d evelopmental disabilities who exhibited challenging behaviors in teach ing situations were exposed to social interaction in a play situation and task demands in a teaching situation. Results indicated that the s tudents exhibited two distinct behavior patterns. Two of the students exhibited a behavior pattern consistent with task avoidance and the ot her two students exhibited a behavior pattern consistent with social a voidance. Implications concerning task versus social avoidance and the need for more fine-grained analyses of the stimuli associated with es cape behavior are discussed.