Assessment and Treatment of Challenging Behavior Maintained by a Nonvocal Mands Function
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BRIEF PRACTICE
Assessment and Treatment of Challenging Behavior Maintained by a Nonvocal Mands Function Sara Jeglum 1,2 & Jonathan D. Schmidt 1,2 & Morgan Hallgren 1 & Jennifer Vetter 1,2 & Amanda Goetzel 1
# Association for Behavior Analysis International 2020
Abstract Standard functional analysis procedures may require modifications to assess idiosyncratic variables, such as adult compliance with mands. In the literature, the mands function is largely represented by individuals who vocally communicate idiosyncratic requests. Although effective treatment procedures have been published, schedule thinning has rarely been conducted. Using a reversal design, a mands functional analysis was completed with a 12-year-old nonvocal male. Results showed differentiated rates of challenging behavior. Treatment consisted of differential reinforcement via a chained schedule with signaled availability. During schedule thinning, low rates of challenging behavior were maintained. Keywords Adult compliance with mands . Problem behavior
Although the functional analysis (FA) is well established in identifying functions of challenging behavior for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (Beavers, Iwata, & Lerman, 2013), standard FA procedures may require modification to assess idiosyncratic variables, such as adult compliance with mands (Bowman, Fisher, Thompson, & Piazza, 1997). In the literature, the mands function is largely represented by individuals with developmental disabilities who vocally communicate idiosyncratic requests through vocalizations (Schmidt et al., 2017). Mand content is widely variable and typically idiosyncratic (e.g., mands for rearrangement; Torres-Viso, Strohmeier, & Zarcone, 2018; playing in a certain way; Bowman et al., 1997). However, there are limited functional analyses on nonvocal verbal behavior (Normand, Severtson, & Beavers, 2008) and no study that formally examines an adult-compliance-with-nonvocal-mands function for challenging behavior. One study conducted by Eluri, Andrade, Trevino, and Mahmoud (2016) examined the challenging behavior of a participant who had complex vocal speech but rarely used spoken language to request; rather, he
* Jonathan D. Schmidt [email protected] 1
Department of Behavioral Psychology, Kennedy Krieger Institute, 707 N. Broadway, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
2
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
used gestures most reliably to mand. However, in the assessment phase, only vocal mands were honored, which limits the results of this study because the maintaining function was potentially not correctly identified. The most common treatment components for challenging behavior maintained by adult compliance with mands include differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) via functional communication, DRA for compliance with adult mands, differential reinforcement of other behaviors (DRO), and extinction. Despite the literature demonstrating effective interventions, schedule thinning has rarely been used (S
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