The Role of Response Efficiency in the Reduction of Problem Behaviors through Functional Equivalence Training: A Case Study

Abstract

This study describes the results of a functional analysis of aggressive behaviors with a 14-year-old boy with moderate mental retardation. An initial analysis showed that aggression occurred during instruction on difficult tasks, but was less likely to occur when extra teacher assistance was provided. We interpreted the initial analysis as indicating that aggression and teacher assistance both served the function of escaping from difficult tasks (either by avoiding the task altogether, or by making it easier to perform). We subsequently taught the student and compared the effects of two response alternatives for requesting assistance: a high effort/low efficiency response of typing “help please” on an electronic communication device, and a low effort/high efficiency response of pressing a single key that produced the same message. Use of the low efficiency response did not result in a durable reduction of aggression. The high efficiency response, once trained, occurred frequently, and was associated with substantial decreases in aggression. A collateral increase in the use of a pointing response suggests that the effects of the intervention were generalized to a second communication response. The study supports existing recommendations for conducting systematic functional analyses to define the variables maintaining undesirable behavior, and to teach functionally equivalent alternative responses as a strategy for decreasing undesirable behaviors. The results also indicate the need to assess the relative efficiency of appropriate and problem behaviors when designing functional equivalence programs.