Behavioral Assessment and Treatment of Compulsive Fixing of Environmental Items in a Teenage Male With Autism

Many individuals diagnosed with autism engage in repetitive, compulsive behaviors that interfere with their daily activities, routines, and instruction (e.g., daily living skills, academic skills, vocational skills). This study sought to conduct a behavioral assessment to determine the function of repetitive fixing of environmental items (e.g., turning buckets/trash cans so labels faced outward, closing doors, straightening silverware, turning visual icons, etc.) in a teenage male with autism and to evaluate a function-based intervention to decrease the fixing behavior. A functional analysis was conducted and supported the hypothesis that the fixing behavior was, at least partly, maintained by the change created in the environment that the fixing response created. An extinction-based treatment (i.e., the environment was restored to its original location) was evaluated, utilizing a reversal design, to determine its effectiveness in decreasing the compulsive fixing behavior. A review of the trend and level of the fixing behavior data suggest the environmental restoration intervention was moderately successful in decreasing fixing behavior.