An Analysis of Procedures to Decrease Inappropriate Behavior When It Is a Link in a Response Chain

The current study examined the effectiveness of a strategy to disrupt behavior chains, consisting of an inappropriate behavior followed by an appropriate behavior of 3 children with moderate to severe disabilities. A baseline measure was collected of each response in the chain: response one (R1) and response two (R2). Conditional probabilities were calculated to provide evidence that the two responses occurred in a predictable sequence and may therefore constitute a chain. The subsequent intervention consisted of providing the appropriate discriminative stimulus that occasioned R2 on a fixed schedule and reinforcing the appropriate response (R2) regardless of when it occurred (i.e., within the chain or alone). The results of a multiple baseline across participants analysis demonstrated that the intervention was effective in disrupting the response chains and in decreasing the inappropriate response for all 3 participants. In addition, the intervention was effective in increasing the appropriate response in 2 of the 3 participants. These results have implications for use of the disruption procedure in applied settings in which challenging behavior is a member of a response chain.