Stimulus Control Refinements of Functional Communication Training
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Summary
Although treatments for problem behavior, like functional communication training (FCT), can be highly effective in the clinic, changes in the way the FCT is implemented (e.g., when transferring treatment to the home, when teachers implement treatment with poor fidelity) can result in treatment relapse. The goal of this study is to evaluate whether using treatment signals and gradually introducing materials from natural contexts can help mitigate treatment relapse during context changes and poor treatment-integrity scenarios.
Description
The most common treatment for problem behavior is functional communication training (FCT). FCT involves teaching children to request what they want, rather than engaging in problem behavior when they don't get their way, and then teach them that they cannot always ask for their way and instead must wait or work appropriately first. While FCT is effective, problem behavior sometimes comes back after treatment when children encounter treatment challenges, like long periods of not getting their way, when caregivers deliver treatment differently than what they are used to (e.g., caregivers deliver…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 3–17 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria: * Boys and girls from ages 3 to 17 * Destructive behavior that occurs at least 10 times a day despite previous treatment * Destructive behavior reinforced by social consequences like attention (FCT is not appropriate for automatically reinforced destructive behavior) * On a stable psychoactive drug regimen for at least 10 half-lives per drug or drug free * Stable educational plan and placement with no anticipated changes during the child's treatment Exclusion Criteria: * Patients who do not meet the inclusion criteria * Patients currently receiving 15 or more hours per w…
Interventions
- BehavioralTrad FCT
This intervention emulates a traditional reinforcement schedule-thinning method during FCT in which clinicians program delays to reinforcement without discriminative stimuli (e.g., the child learns that some FCRs result in reinforcement and some do not). By programming reinforcement approximately every 15 s, the rate of reinforcement will be equivalent to mult FCT. During Period 1 of this project, trad FCT served as an appropriate control condition to which mult FCT could be compared.
- BehavioralMult FCT
This intervention involves correlating discriminative stimuli (e.g., purple and yellow index cards) with times in which reinforcement for the functional communication response (FCR) is and is not available. During Period 1 of this project, this procedure resulted in rapid reduction of destructive behavior and mitigated resurgence and renewal when the discriminative stimuli were used as programmed.
- BehavioralMult FCT + Stimulus Fading
This condition is similar to mult FCT except that the experimenters will gradually incorporate natural stimuli (e.g., rugs, tables, lamps) into sessions to approximate target settings that may occasion relapse typically without such gradual stimulus fading.
Location
- Children's Specialized Hospital - Rutgers University Center for Autism Research, Education, and ServicesSomerset, New Jersey