justin daigle, ma, bcba, lba program director. there are four functions of behavior that have been...
TRANSCRIPT
Justin Daigle, MA, BCBA, LBAProgram Director
Functions of Behavior
There are four functions of behavior that have been found through research.
Attention, Escape, Automatic, and Access to Tangibles
Iwata created a Functional Analysis as a way to assess functions of behaviors
Our Education Thus Far…
Presentation Goal:
Review the development and growth of our understanding of
functions
How Did We Get Here?
S.I.B.
Self-Injurious Behavior
Behaviors where the “mentally handicapped” would repeatedly, and without regard to their health, cause physical harm
to themselves without context.
Shorthand Note
1960-70
Towards the end of the “Mental Institution Revolution”
What to do with these severe cases that include self-injury.
Setting
Rapid solutions were needed
This begin a big “boom” in applied behavior analysis
Other fields immediately had a growing interest in what Watson, Skinner, and
others were doing.
Solutions
Published “The Motivation of Self-Injurious Behavior: A review of some
hypothesis”
1977
Meta-Analysis of existing “hypothesis” behind what motivated SIB
E.G. Carr
Positive Reinforcement Hypothesis
Negative Reinforcement Hypothesis
Self-Stimulatory Hypothesis
Organic Hypothesis
Psychodynamic Hypothesis
5 Hypothesis
Cited a Lovaas study: (Lovaas, et al, 1965)
Stated that some hypothesize that receiving a physical reinforcer may
motivate SIB
This has now become “Access”
Positive Sr+ Hypothesis
I want cookie. I can’t speak.
Mom won’t give me cookie.I’m going to hit myself until mom
gives me the cookie because she “doesn’t know what else to do”?
Example - Access
Cited a Carr study: (Carr, et al, 1976)
Stated that some hypothesize that the removal of an adverse stimulus
could motivate SIB
This has now become “Escape”
Negative Sr+ Hypothesis
I dislike the smell of cookies. I cannot talk.
Mom is baking cookies. It makes me sick. She won’t stop.
I begin hitting myself in the head. Mom stops.
Example - Escape
Cited a Carr study: (Carr, 1961)
Stated that some hypothesize that some internal pleasure is derived
from SIB
This has now become “Automatic”
Self-Stimulatory Hypothesis
At this point, highly theoretical
Some saw it as an “excuse explanation”
It is still debated about how SIB could “feel good” to any person
Why stereotypy is often called “stimming”
Self-Stimulatory Hypothesis
Hitting myself in the head feels good
I hit myself in the head
Example - Automatic
Hypothesis that states there are medical reasons to explain SIB
There are medical reasons in some cases, but not in all
A BCBA should ensure a client has consulted a pediatrician and/or neurologist
Organic Hypothesis
Points to (Cain, 1961) to cover them
Mostly traditional psychology attempting to address SIBs with their “theories”
Carr says there is a “lack of evidence” and dismisses this category completely
Psychodynamic Hypothesis
These theories include “Sensory Integration” (remember this was
published back in 1977).
Psychodynamic Hypothesis
Positive Reinforcement (Access)Negative Reinforcement (Escape)
Self-Stimulatory (Automatic) Organic (Medical)
Psychodynamic (Dismissed)
What’s missing?
Review of 5 Hypothesis
Within “Psychodynamic”, Carr pointed out that there was on one exception to the
“lack of evidence”
Lovaas’s “guilt hypothesis”
…which seems silly now, but I’m sure at the time made tons of sense
Attention!?!
“Guilt hypothesis”: Individuals with developmental delays feel guilty about their
actions and engage in SIB as a way to punish themselves.
Every time a client would hit themselves, Lovaas would say something along the lines of “I don’t judge you” or “It’s not your fault”
Attention!?!
There was one huge problem
For the client Lovaas was working with, the “guilt hypothesis” increased the
behavior
Lovaas suggested that maybe social interaction increased SIB
Attention!?!
Thus Lovaas stumbled upon the fourth, and final function:
Attention!
Attention!?!
Carr laid out criteria for which functions we should focus on:
1) “[SIB] rates can be reduced when the reinforcer is removed”
(subject to extinction)
Criteria for Success
2) “[SIB] rates can be increased when reinforcement is made contingent upon the behavior (subject to reinforcement)
3) “[SIB] can come under the control of a stimulus” (subject to stimulus
control)
Criteria for Success
“The review of the literature on [SIB] suggest that a single factor is not
responsible for the motivation of all [SIB]. [O]ne could profitably make a distinction between.. the underlying maintenance of
[SIB].”
It wasn’t until 1994 that someone took him up on his offer.
Treatment Implications
In 2007, researchers with the Kennedy Krieger Institute (within John
Hopkins) suggested a 5th function.
“Interruption of free-operant behavior”
Fell under the umbrella of “access”
Fifth Function?
Recent research suggest that if “access” is a function at all, it happens very infrequently.
This began to movement to return to the original nomenclature:Social Positive (Attention)Social Negative (Escape)Automatic Positive (Stereotypy)Automatic Negative (Pain Alleviation)
Recent Research
If stereotypy is maintained by automatic reinforcement and there are not current assessments to determine what is positive and what is negative reinforcement, is it ethical to eliminate stereotypy?
Ethics
Justin Daigle, MA, BCBA, LBAProgram Director
Extinction
When using an extinction procedure with rats in a Skinner box you will almost always see:
Extinction burstExtinction induced aggression
Side Effects of Extinction
When using an extinction procedure with a client the rate dramatically
decline: 39% had an extinction burst
22% had extinction induced aggression 19% had both simultaneously
58% had no side effects
Side Effects of Extinction
What causes this dramatic change?May be the function – article suggest
that 57% of extinction interventions based on social negative
reinforcement had extinction burst But that is still just over half
Side Effects of Extinction
Current thought: When Extinction is used alone, it will
almost always have the common side effects.
When Extinction is used with another procedure (such as reinforcement) the
side effects are less likely.
Side Effects of Extinction
The authors suggest to independently measure and intervene on aggression and
extinction burst.
Side Effects of Extinction
Extinction-Induced VariabilityIn the article called “Response
Variability”Novel behaviors appear as a
“test” for replacement behaviors.
Utilizing the Side Effects
Field if often criticizes for created “robots”.
Can response variability help that? Remember Carbonne (2010) used
extinction-induced variability to promote verbalizations in non-verbal
children Side effects are ripe for research
Utilizing the Side Effects
Thank you for your time!
Questions?