Impact of language on behavior treatment outcomes

Abstract

Resurgence of problem behavior following effective functional communication training (FCT) can occur if the functional communication response contacts extinction. For children from duallanguage households, extinction may unintentionally occur due to language variations among communication partners. In the current study, the experimenters evaluated the effect of language on FCT outcomes. Participants were 3 children with autism who engaged in problem behavior and whose parents reported Spanish as the primary home language. The experimenters conducted FCT in the English language followed by probes in the Spanish language. Results suggest that functional communication responses (FCRs) learned in the first language (English) may lead to resurgence of problem behavior when English FCRs do not contact reinforcement in the untaught language (e.g., Spanish). Two of the participants required additional teaching in the secondary language (Spanish), while the third participant eventually emitted Spanish FCRs in the Spanish condition without explicit teaching.

Relapse of operant behavior after response elimination with an extinction or an omission contingency

“…For example, differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) or functional communication training (FCT) are effective treatments for problem behavior, but resurgence of problem behavior occurs when reinforcement for the alternative response is disrupted (e.g., Gratz, Wilson, & Glassford, 2019;Hoffman & Falcomata, 2014;Lieving, Hagopian, Long, & O'Connor, 2004;Marstellar & St. Peter, 2014;Neely, Graber, Kunnavatana, & Cantrell, 2019;Volkert, Lerman, Call, & Trosclair-Lasserre, 2009;Wacker et al, 2013). Behavioral treatments are effective for producing initial reductions in problem behavior; however, relapse after treatment is common and a major barrier to treatment efficacy.…”

“…Behavioral treatments are effective for producing initial reductions in problem behavior; however, relapse after treatment is common and a major barrier to treatment efficacy. For example, differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) or functional communication training (FCT) are effective treatments for problem behavior, but resurgence of problem behavior occurs when reinforcement for the alternative response is disrupted (e.g., Gratz, Wilson, & Glassford, 2019;Hoffman & Falcomata, 2014;Lieving, Hagopian, Long, & O'Connor, 2004;Marstellar & St. Peter, 2014;Neely, Graber, Kunnavatana, & Cantrell, 2019;Volkert, Lerman, Call, & Trosclair-Lasserre, 2009;Wacker et al, 2013). Most research into relapse processes in clinical settings attempts to translate methods developed in studies of extinction learning (e.g., Liddon, Kelley, Rey, Liggett, & Ribeiro, 2018), even though extinction alone is rarely used as a technique to eliminate behavior in clinical settings.…”

Extending functional communication training to multiple language contexts in bilingual learners with challenging behavior

“…Resurgence is the recurrence of a previously eliminated response when reinforcement for an alternative is disrupted or worsened (Lattal et al, 2017). Relevant to the findings of Neely, Graber et al (2020), children with communication needs from CLD families may contact verbal communities who either exclusively reinforce communication in one language (e.g., the language at home) or another (e.g., the language at school). For these children, teaching mands in one language (e.g., English) only empowers them to recruit reinforcement in a subset of relevant environments (e.g., school) but not others (e.g., home).…”

“…The child engaged in more correct responding and lower percentages of challenging behavior when instruction was delivered in the home language (i.e., Spanish). Similarly, Neely, Graber et al (2020) observed that the acquisition of mands following FCT in English‐only contexts rarely generalized to Spanish‐only contexts. Moreover, challenging behavior resurged in the Spanish‐only contexts when English mands were not reinforced, which adds to the body of research showing resurgence during unsignaled extinction of mands following FCT (e.g., Briggs et al, 2018; Greer & Shahan, 2019; Hoffman & Falcomata, 2014; Lambert et al, 2016, 2017; Peterson et al, 2017; Pritchard et al, 2014; Schmitz et al, 2019; Wacker et al, 2013).…”

Increasing Access and Quality of Behavior-Analytic Services for the Latinx Population

“…Research in this domain is particularly relevant to Latinx consumers who either live in multilingual households or for whom English is not their primary language. Studies examining the effects of language on discrete-trial instruction (Lang et al, 2011 ), the acquisition of play skills (Lim & Charlop, 2018 ), the recovery of extinguished problem behavior following functional communication training (Neely et al, 2020 ; Padilla Dalmau et al, 2011 ), and assessments of behavior function (Rispoli et al, 2011 ) have demonstrated that the language used during instruction or assessment can have important effects on the outcomes obtained. Multilingual situations present unique challenges for behavior-analytic practitioners, as the language required for the important social interactions taking place in the home may not be the language consumers need to use and respond to in other settings (e.g., school, workplace, community).…”