We examined the effects of an establishing operation (EO) and abolishing operation (AO) on stimulus control of challenging behavior. Two participants with developmental disabilities and challenging behavior participated. In Phase I, a functional analysis was conducted to identify the consequences maintaining challenging behavior. In Phase II, a…

We evaluated a program for teaching two adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) to perform more advanced operations on an iPod-based speech-generating device (SGD). The effects of the teaching program were evaluated in a multiprobe multiple baseline across participants design that included two intervention phases. The first intervention…

We examined the behavior-altering effect of the motivating operation on challenging behavior during leisure activities for three individuals with severe disabilities. Prior functional analyses indicated that challenging behavior was maintained by positive reinforcement in the form of attention or tangible items for all participants. During leisure…

We examined the effects of presession levels of attention (no attention vs. continuous attention) during subsequent alone and attention-extinction conditions for an individual with severe disabilities and problem behavior. A prior functional analysis indicated that attention was a primary maintaining variable for problem behavior. Experimental…