The Potential Evocative Effect of Leisure Item Omission in the Attention and Escape Conditions of a Functional Analysis.

The potential suppressive effects of leisure items in the attention condition of functional analyses have been documented (Ringdahl et al., 2002; Roscoe et al., 2008). However, the potential evocative effects of their absence have not been as thoroughly explored. The current study evaluated the impact of the omission of leisure items in a standard attention or escape condition of a functional analysis. Two participants exhibited leisure item requests and target behavior when the programmed establishing operation for attention or escape was absent during an initial functional analysis of their target behavior. This pattern of responding led to a modification of conditions in which preferred leisure items were included in the attention or escape condition for both participants, resulting in the absence of target behavior. A follow-up component analysis verified that the omission of leisure items and not the programmed establishing operation were responsible for the higher levels of responding in the respective test conditions. Results are discussed in the context of decision-making processes in functional analysis design; a recommendation is made to adopt routine measures of requests and programmed-establishing-operation-absent behavior.