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Ratings of acceptability were obtained from 20 parents who came to a behavior management outpatient clinic for assistance with their children's behavior problems. Ratings of treatment acceptability were obtained both before and after a behavioral treatment recommendation was proposed to assess the relationship between acceptability and outcomes of the proposed recommendations. Results indicated that those composites which were significantly related to acceptability initially (disruption and willingness) were shown to have less of an impact on acceptability once the treatment had been attempted. Instead, parental ratings of the effectiveness of the treatment had the largest influence on acceptability. The need to replicate these findings in other settings with a larger population is warranted based on these results.

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We conducted descriptive and experimental analyses of aberrant behavior in school settings with 2 children with autism, using teachers as assessors. Experimental functional analyses carried out by the investigators were followed by training teachers to conduct a descriptive analysis and a classroom experimental analysis. A comparison of the assessment procedures showed that each procedure identified negative reinforcement as a maintaining variable for aberrant behavior. The teacher implemented an intervention based on the assessment with mixed results. We then replicated the initial results by having the first teacher train a second teacher to carry out the two assessment procedures. The results of these analyses were also in agreement, again identifying negative reinforcement as a variable maintaining aberrant behavior. An intervention based on negative reinforcement was then successfully implemented. These results suggest the applicability and utility of functional analyses carried out in school settings.

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