An Evaluation of Length of Delay to Reinforcement on Response Variability and Occurrence of Challenging Behavior During FCT for Young Children with Autism

Functional communication training (FCT) is an effective approach to teaching children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) appropriate ways to communicate. Delays to reinforcement during FCT have been used to evaluate variability in appropriate responses as well as resurgence of challenging behaviors. The present study compared two lengths of delay to reinforcement based on the latency to challenging behavior from individual functional analyses. Researchers included multiple mand topographies during FCT and measured varied mands and challenging behavior. Results indicated that the longer delay led to increased variability in appropriate responses for all participants. Only two out of three participants engaged in elevated levels of challenging behaviors during less than half of the long delay sessions. The shorter delay led to no resurgence of challenging behavior for all participants. The findings support the use of delays to reinforcement for evaluating variability in responses.