An Analysis of Physical Guidance as Reinforcement for Noncompliance

Abstract

Physical guidance is a strategy commonly used for noncompliance. In two experiments, we evaluated reinforcing effects of physical guidance. Experiment 1 included three individuals with developmental disabilities who were noncompliant with tasks. Anecdotal observations indicated physical contact was highly reinforcing, and a functional analysis identified attention as a reinforcer for problem behavior. Two conditions compared physical guidance following noncompliance and no physical guidance following noncompliance. Results showed noncompliance increased for all three participants when physical guidance followed noncompliance. The second experiment empirically evaluated the function of noncompliance prior to examining the effect of physical guidance on noncompliance. A functional analysis, conducted with two participants, indicated noncompliance served an escape function for one and an attention function for the other. Comparisons of physical guidanceand no physical guidance indicated physical guidance resulted in decreased noncompliance for the participant with an escape function but increased noncompliance for the participant with an attention function.