The purpose of this study was to evaluate the functional relationship between problematic
environment of a child and his two problem behaviors via functional analysis and then to
investigate the effect of antecedents-based intervention.
The participant was a five-year-old boy with autism. He had a difficulty in attending to
inclusive class due to the aggressive behaviors, primarily throwing objects and spitting.
Research problems were as follows: First, Is there any relationship between two problem
behaviors, namely, throwing objects and spitting? If there is, what is the type of relationship?
Second, between these two problem behaviors, throwing objects behavior is considered as more serious, and among the interventions for that behavior, material-choice art activities is chosen more often than others. Then what is the effect of material-choice art activities on throwing objects behavior? Two experiments were conducted, and reversal design was utilized at each experiment. In both experiments, counts of throwing objects behavior were recorded at every single session.
The results were as follows:
In experiment 1, when providing block intervention to throwing objects behavior, spitting was
increased. On the other hand, when eliminating the block intervention and providing the
opportunities to choose reinforcers, both throwing objects behavior and spitting behavior were
decreased. In experiment 2, it was found that material-choice art activities had positive effects
on throwing objects behavior, which continued in maintenance and generalization phases.
As a results, it seems that material-choice art activity has positive effects on reducing
throwing objects behavior of autistic children.
Key Words : Functional Analysis, Throwing Objects and Spitting, Aggressive Behaviors,
Choice Making Art Activity