On the effects of "quality" of attention in the functional analysis of destructive behavior

Two young children with mental retardation displayed inconclusive patterns of destructive behavior when a functional analysis was conducted using the procedures described by Iwata et-al. (1982/1994). A second functional analy sis incorporated modifications to the social attention condition that were based on interview data from care providers and descriptive observations. R esults of the modified social attention condition indicated that a specific "quality" of attention was needed to identify the maintaining contingency for destructive behavior within an experimental analysis. Results are discu ssed in terms of considerations for further assessment when traditional ana log functional analysis conditions are ineffective in isolating maintaining contingencies for destructive behavior. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd.