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. 2010 Spring;3(1):22–32. doi: 10.1007/BF03391755

Function-Based Treatments for Escape-Maintained Problem Behavior: A Treatment-Selection Model for Practicing Behavior Analysts

Kaneen B Geiger 1, James E Carr 1,✉, Linda A LeBlanc 1
PMCID: PMC3004681  PMID: 22479669

Abstract

Escape from instructional activities is a common maintaining variable for problem behavior and a number of effective treatments have been developed for this function. Each of these treatments has characteristics that make them optimal for certain environments and clients, but less optimal for others. We summarize the most commonly researched function-based treatments for escape-maintained behavior, describe the contexts for which they are most appropriate, and provide a clinical model for selecting treatments based on client characteristics and the constraints of the therapeutic environment.

Keywords: Activity choice, clinical decision making, curricular revision, demand fading, differential reinforcement, escape, extinction, function-based treatment, noncontingent reinforcement

Footnotes

We thank Amy Polick, Megan Heinicke, Laura Grow, Jessa Love, Anna Petursdottir, and Dorothea Lerman for their comments on an earlier version of the model.

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