An Evaluation of Manding Across Functions Prior to Functional Communication Training

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether destructive behavior and manding were maintained by the same social reinforcers. A summary of 10 participants that met criteria for differentiated functional analysis and mand analysis results were included in this study. All participants were preschool-aged children with developmental disabilities who engaged in destructive behavior. All procedures were conducted in the participants' homes by their parent with investigator coaching. Functional analyses (attention, escape, and tangible test conditions) of destructive behavior and manding were conducted within multielement designs and showed social functions. The functional analysis of destructive behavior and functional analysis of mands identified the same reinforcers for only 2 of the 10 participants. The analysis of mands identified a reinforcer that was not identified by the analysis of destructive behavior for 5 participants (over-identification), did not identify a reinforcer that was identified by the analysis of destructive behavior for 2 participants (under-identification), and identified mixed reinforcers (combination of over-identification and under-identification) for 1 participant. Results suggest that the analysis of destructive behavior and the analysis of mands identified different reinforcers and are not interchangeable.