Functional equivalence of autistic leading and communicative pointing: analysis and treatment

Several studies have demonstrated that behavior problems can be reduced by teaching new, socially desirable responses that serve the same function as the undesirable behaviors being replaced. The present study was undertaken to extend this strategy systematically to a different area of child development, specifically, language disorder. A less desirable form of requesting, autistic leading, was treated by strengthening a more desirable form of requesting, pointing. The study was conducted using a multiple baseline design across four children with autism. Intervention included verbal and physical prompting of the pointing response as well as tangible reinforcement for child-initiated instances of that response. In a later phase, verbal requesting was also taught to accompany the pointing. Following intervention, response generalization was observed; that is, as pointing became frequent, leading became rare. In addition, stimulus generalization was observed; that is, pointing was exhibited in the presence of new adults, new settings, and new tangible objects. Results are discussed with respect to the principle that functional equivalence and response efficiency can be combined procedurally to treat a variety of undesirable behaviors in an educationally constructive manner.