Treatment of Self-Injurious Escape Behavior through Functional Communication Training

Yoon, Jin-Young; Lee, Sohyun

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Commun Sci Disord. 2001;5(2): 1-17.

Jin-Young Yoon^` , and Sohyun Lee^`

윤진영(Jin-Young Yoon)| 이소현(Sohyun Lee)

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect s of functional communication training as an intervention for self- injurious behavior (SIB) of the children with developmental disabilities maintained by negative reinforcement (escape from educational tasks ). Using multiple- probe baseline design acros s three subject s, the frequency of SIB and communication behavior s were measured. T he intervention involved teaching an appropriate escape respon se to the children to replace SIB. T his intervention, also, included an escape- extinction component in which SIB no longer produced escape. The results from this study were as follows : (1) T eaching appropriate escape respon ses as alternative behavior s to SIB through functional communication training increased the frequency of communication behavior ; (2) Functional communication training decreased the frequency of SIB through increasing the frequency of communication behavior ; (3) Increasing the frequency of communication behavior and decreasing the frequency of SIB were maintained after the withdrawal of intervention.