An analysis of maintenance following functional communication training

Area of Science:

• Behavioral Psychology
• Applied Behavior Analysis
• Child Psychology

Background:

• Challenging behaviors in children often require effective intervention strategies.
• Functional analysis identifies maintaining variables for problem behaviors.
• Time-out from positive reinforcement is a common reductive procedure.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the long-term effectiveness of functional communication training (FCT) against time-out.
• To evaluate the durability of behavior reduction across different settings and personnel.
• To explore the concept of functional equivalence in behavior modification.

Main Methods:

• A functional analysis was conducted to identify the function of challenging behaviors in 12 children.
• Children were matched and assigned to either FCT or time-out groups.
• Intervention effectiveness and maintenance were assessed across multiple studies and conditions.

Main Results:

• Both FCT and time-out initially reduced challenging behaviors.
• Functional communication training demonstrated durable behavior reduction across different settings and with naive personnel.
• Behaviors previously reduced by time-out re-emerged when the intervention history was unknown to new supervisors.

Conclusions:

• Functional communication training is a more effective intervention for achieving long-term reduction of challenging behaviors.
• Teaching communicative responses promotes maintenance of behavior change.
• The findings support the principle of functional equivalence in behavior intervention design.