Functional Analysis of Inappropriate Mealtime Behaviors

Abstract

The purpose of the current investigation was to apply the functional analysis described by Iwata, Dorsey, Slifer, Bauman, and Richman (1982/1994) to the inappropriate mealtime behaviors of 15 children who had been referred to an intensive program for the assessment and treatment of severe feeding disorders. During Study 1, we conducted descriptive assessments of children and parents during meals. The results of Study 1 showed that parents used the following consequences for inappropriate mealtime behaviors: coaxing and reprimanding, allowing the child to periodically take a break from or avoid eating, and giving the child preferred food or toys following inappropriate behavior. The effects of these consequences were tested systematically in Study 2 when we conducted analogue functional analyses with the children. During alternating meals, one of the consequences typically used by parents consistently followed inappropriate child behavior. Results indicated that these consequences actually worsened behavior for 10 of the 15 children (67%). These results suggested that the analogue functional analysis described by Iwata et al. may be useful in identifying the environmental events that play a role in feeding disorders. DESCRIPTORS: descriptive assessment, feeding disorders, functional analysis, negative reinforcement A feeding disorder is identified when a child is unable or refuses to eat or drink suf-

A Comparison of Descriptive and Functional Analyses of Inappropriate Mealtime Behavior

“…Piazza, Fisher, et al (2003) described a method for conducting descriptive and experimental analyses of IMB. To complete the descriptive assessment, they observed caregiver-fed meals for six childparent dyads, scored both child responses (e.g., food acceptance, refusal) and parent responses (e.g., removal of demand, provision of attention and access to tangibles) and evaluated which parent responses most frequently followed child responses.…”

“…Although Piazza, Fisher et al (2003) conducted descriptive assessments to identify potential consequences following IMB, the parent responses were grouped into fairly broad categories and they did not specifically compare the likelihood of a parent response (following IMB) to the unconditional probability of the same response. That is, although it is helpful to know that a parent attends to a child following food refusal, this information does not tell us if attention following food refusal is a concern.…”

Health and Problem Behavior Among People With Intellectual Disabilities

“…Researchers have also shown that food refusal is consistent with an escape or avoidance function, such as a physical resistance to feeding, expulsion of food, or other incompatible behaviors such as aggression and attempts to leave the table (Piazza et al, 2003). The inappropriate behavior these children display tends to be higher when inappropriate behavior resulted in escape or breaks from bites of food, and for some when inappropriate behavior resulted in adult attention or tangible items.…”

“…Undiagnosed and/or untreated health problems may reduce a person's life expectancy and contribute to the development of secondary health complications (Cooper, Melville, & Morrison, 2004;Piazza et al, 2003).…”

“…However, ignoring the reinforcement contingencies could result in problem behavior being socially reinforced in the absence of the health problem (Carr & McDowell, 1980;Piazza et al, 2003). For example, Carr and McDowell (1980) reported the case of a child with ID who began scratching himself in response to a skin allergy; the scratching was likely maintained by automatic reinforcement.…”