A Family in Crisis: Replacing the Aggressive Behavior of a Child with Autism Toward an Infant Sibling

As a means of managing a 10-year-old child with autism's aggressive behavior toward his infant sibling in a home setting, the use of clinician-implemented skill training of replacement behavior and clinician fading with self-management of replacement behaviors was examined. This study exemplifies a specific circumstance when a clinician-implemented treatment is useful in ameliorating emotionally charged family circumstances in which parent training is not possible. A single-case design (nonconcurrent multiple baseline across behavior) was used to evaluate performance. The longitudinal nature of the study reflects the moving target of problem behaviors that emerged as the infant developed an increasingly complex repertoire of skills over time. After employing skill training, the researchers found a decrease in the occurrence of aggressive behavior, an increase in the percentage of intervals in which replacement behaviors occurred, and an increase in the duration of sibling interactions. As a result, the family decided to keep their child with autism at home.