Excessive food selectivity typifies some children with developmental disabilities.We conducted functional analyses to determine the controlling variables for problem behavior that accompanied food selectivity and analyzed the role of establishing operations in ameliorating food selectivity. Specifically, we studied the differential effects on intervention efficacy of an individual’s having or not having access to preferred food items prior to an intervention that involved the presence versus absence of a positive reinforcement contingency applied to food consumption. Participants displayed significantly more problem behavior during the nonpreferred-foods condition. Participants consumed nonpreferred target food items only when prior access to preferred foods was limited and a positive reinforcement contingency was implemented. Functional analysis suggested that problem behavior was maintained by negative reinforcement. Intervention data suggested that establishing operations increased the efficacy of the contingency-based intervention. The implications of applying this intervention in the community were discussed as were the relative merits of stimulus fading versus escape extinction intervention strategies.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Azrin, N. H. , Hutchinson, R. R., & Hake, D. F. (1966). Extinction-induced aggression. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 9, 191-204.
2.
Babbitt, R. L. , Hoch, T. A., & Coe, D. A. (1996). Behavioral feeding disorders. In D. N. Tuchman & R. S. Walter (Eds.), Disorders of feeding and swallowing in infants and children (pp. 77-95). San Diego, CA: Singular.
3.
Barlow, D. H. , & Hayes, S. C. (1979). Alternating treatment design: One strategy for comparing the effects of two treatments in a single subject. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 12, 199-210.
4.
Birch, L. L. (1990). Development of food acceptance patterns. Developmental Psychology, 26, 515-519.
5.
Budd, K. S. , McGraw, T. E., Farbisz, R., Murphy, T. B., Hawkins, D., Heilman, N., Werle, M., & Hochstadt, N. J. (1992). Psychosocial concomitants of children’s feeding disorders. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 17, 81-94.
6.
Carr, E. G. , Newsom, C. D., & Binkoff, J. A. (1980). Escape as a factor in the aggressive behavior of two retarded children. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 13, 101-117.
7.
Clark, J. H. , Rhoden, D. K., & Turner, D. S. (1993). Symptomatic vitamin A and D deficiencies in an eight-year-old with autism. Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, 17, 284-286.
8.
Freeman, K. A. , & Piazza, C. C. (1998). Combining stimulus fading, reinforcement, and extinction to treat food refusal. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 31, 691-694.
9.
Hartmann, D. P. , & Hall, R. V. (1976). The changing criterion design. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 9, 527-532.
10.
Higgins Hains, A. , & Baer, D. M. (1989). Interaction effects in multielement designs: Inevitable, desirable, and ignorable. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 22, 57-69.
11.
Hoch, T. A. , Babbitt, R. L., Coe, D. A., Krell, D. M., & Hackbert, L. (1994). Contingency contacting: Combining positive reinforcement and escape extinction procedures to treat persistent food refusal. Behavior Modification, 18, 106-128.
12.
Ives, C. C. , Harris, S. L., & Wolchik, S. A. (1978). Food refusal in an autistic-type child treated by a multi-component forced feeding procedure. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 9, 61-64.
13.
Johnson, C. R. , & Babbitt, R. L. (1993). Antecedent manipulation in the treatment of primary solid food refusal. Behavior Modification, 17, 510-521.
14.
Kern, L. , & Marcher, T. J. (1996). A comparison of simultaneous and delayed reinforcement as treatments for food selectivity. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 29, 243-246.
15.
Kerwin, M. E. , Ahearn, W. H., Eicher, P. S., & Burd, D. M. (1995). The costs of eating: A behavioral economic analysis of food refusal. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 28, 245-260.
16.
Kozloff, M. A. (1974). Educating children with learning and behavior problems. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
17.
Linscheid, T. R. (1983). Eating problems in children. In C. E. Walker & M. C. Roberts (Eds.), Handbook of clinical child psychology (pp. 616-639). New York: John Wiley.
18.
Linscheid, T. R. , Oliver, J., Blyer, E., & Palmer, S. (1978). Brief hospitalization for the treatment of feeding problems in the developmentally disabled. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 3, 72-76.
19.
Lovaas, O. I. (1981). Teaching developmentally disabled children: The me book. Austin, TX: Pro-Ed, Inc.
20.
Luiselli, J. K. (1989). Behavioral assessment and treatment of pediatric feeding disorders in developmental disabilities. In M. Hersen, R. M. Eisler, & P. M. Miller (Eds.), Progress in behavior modification (vol. 24, pp. 91-131). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
21.
Luiselli, J. K. (1994). Oral feeding treatment of children with chronic food refusal and multiple developmental disabilities. American Journal on Mental Retardation, 98, 646-655.
22.
Luiselli, J. K. , & Gleason, D. J. (1987). Combining sensory reinforcement and texture fading procedures to overcome food refusal. Journal of Behavior Therapy & Experimental Psychiatry, 18, 149-155.
23.
Mason, S. A. , McGee, G. G., Farmer-Dougan, V., & Risley, T. R. (1989). A practical strategy for ongoing reinforcer assessment. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 22, 171-179.
24.
McConnachie, G. , & Carr, E. G. (1997). The effects of child behavior problems on the maintenance of intervention fidelity. Behavior Modification, 21, 123-158.
25.
Michael, J. (1982). Distinguishing between discriminative and motivational functions of stimuli. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 37, 149-155.
26.
O’Brien, S. O. , Repp, A. C., Williams, G. E., & Christophersen, E. G. (1991). Pediatric feeding disorders. Behavior Modification, 15, 394-418.
27.
Pace, G. M. , Ivancic, M. T., Edwards, G. L., Iwata, B. A., & Page, T. J. (1985). Assessment of stimulus preference and reinforcer value with profoundly retarded individuals. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 18, 249-255.
28.
Pace, G. M. , Iwata, B. A., Cowdery, G. E., Andree, P. J., & McIntyre, T. (1993). Stimulus (instructional) fading during extinction of self-injurious escape behavior. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 26, 205-212.
29.
Palmer, S. , Thompson, R. J., & Linscheid, T. R. (1975). Applied behavior analysis in the treatment of childhood feeding problems. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 17, 333-339.
30.
Premack, D. (1959). Toward empirical behavioral laws: I. Positive reinforcement. Psychological Review, 66, 219-233.
31.
Riordan, M. M. , Iwata, B. A., Finney, J. W., Wohl, M. K., & Stanley, A. E. (1984). Behavioral treatment of chronic food refusal in handicapped children. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 17, 327-341.
32.
Riordan, M. M. , Iwata, B. A., Wohl, M. K., & Finney, J. W. (1980). Behavioral treatment of food refusal and selectivity in developmentally disabled children. Applied Research in Mental Retardation, 1, 95-112.
33.
Rozin, P. (1990). Development in the food domain. Developmental Psychology, 26, 555-562.
34.
Sidman, M. (1960). Tactics of scientific research: Evaluating experimental data in psychology. New York: Basic Books.
35.
Skinner, B. F. (1938). The behavior of organisms. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
36.
Skinner, B. F. (1953). Science and human behavior. New York: The Free Press.
37.
Smith, R. G. , Iwata, B. A., Goh, H., & Shore, B. A. (1995). Analysis of establishing operations for self-injury maintained by escape. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 28, 515-535.
38.
Sprague, J. , Flannery, B., & Szidon, K. (1998). Functional analysis and treatment of mealtime problem behavior for a person with developmental disabilities. Journal of Behavioral Education, 8, 381-392.
39.
Zarcone, J. R. , Iwata, B. A., Vollmer, T. R., Jagtiani, S., Smith, R. G., & Mazaleski, J. L. (1993). Extinction of self-injurious escape behavior with and without instructional fading. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 26, 353-360.
