Functional Analysis of Social Behavior in Children with Autism

Background: The display of early social communicative behavior is considered a pivotal skill for young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) (Koegel et al., 1999). A number of treatments have been prescribed (e.g., adult and peer mediated, antecedent interventions) to remediate early social-communicative skill deficits; however, many of these treatments suffer from a lack of empirical evidence substantiating sustained positive effects (Rogers, 2000; McConnell, 2002) and do not include an analysis of the environmental contributors that may facilitate or inhibit skill development (Conroy et al., 2007). Functional analysis is an effective assessment tool used to evaluate the environmental contributors to aberrant behavior displayed by children with ASD (Carr et al., 1999; Iwata et al., 1982/1994). Although frequently used to design treatments for individuals with ASD who demonstrate aberrant behavior, functional analysis has not been extensively applied to other forms of behavior, such as social communicative skills. Since deficits in social communicative behavior is considered a key feature of ASD and is an important skill to acquire, the purpose of this study was to investigate the use of functional analysis methodology to analyze the maintaining consequences of social communicative behavior in young children with ASD. Objectives: Aim 1: To apply the use of a functional analysis (FA) protocol to determine the functions of prosocial behaviors in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Aim 2: To determine the extent to which functions of prosocial behaviors systematically differ across social subtypes of children with ASD. Methods: Participants were 30 young children, ages 3 – 9 years, who have been diagnosed with ASD and demonstrated deficits in social communicative skills. Procedures for addressing Aim 1 included the development of a functional analysis protocol to identify functions of social communicative behaviors. A within subject alternating treatments design was used to analyze three potential functions of social communicative behavior (e.g., attention, tangible, escape) in comparison to control conditions. Direct observation of social behaviors (rpm) was used to measure the relative differences across conditions. Interobserver agreement was obtained on with an average of 92%. Procedures for addressing Aim 2 included the Wing & Attwood (1987) social subtype classification system. A 3 x 3 repeated measures ANCOVA (analysis of covariance) was employed to determine statistical differences in function and social subtypes of autism. The Leiter-R and the CELF(Preschool or 3) standard total language scores were used to control for variance due to I.Q. and communication differences, respectively. Results: The findings indicate the utility of using functional analysis methodology to identify functions of social communicative responses in children with ASD. Functional analysis data indicated that the majority of the children demonstrated social communicative behavior to obtain a preferred tangible item. However, obtaining attention and escaping social attention were also displayed. No significant findings were indicated based on social subtypes of ASD. However, findings indicated that IQ and language levels were related to function. Conclusions: Data will be discussed in terms of implications for treatment.