The use of functional analysis to develop peer interventions for disruptive classroom behavior

We evaluated the effectiveness of a peer intervention for disruptive behavior that was based on the results of a prior classroom-based functional analysis. For each participant, the results of a functional analysis suggested that peer attention rather than teacher attention or escape/time-out was associated with the most disruptive classroom behavior. An intervention based on peer attention for appropriate behavior, and extinction of peer attention for disruptive behaviors, reduced disruptive behaviors to zero for all four participants. This study also demonstrates the successful fading of peer reinforcement and replicates previous classroom-based functional analyses of the differential effects of teacher attention, peer attention, and time-out/escape for verbal children of average intellectual functioning.