Further evaluation of latency measures in the assessment and treatment of severe self-injurious behavior

Recent research has demonstrated the utility of latency measures during the functional analysis of problem behavior; however, few studies have evaluated the utility of latency measures during subsequent treatment analyses. The current study seeks to extend the literature on the use of latency measures during the treatment of severe self-injurious behavior (SIB). Following a latency-based functional analysis, a treatment analysis was conducted using a hybrid procedure in which baseline sessions were terminated following the first instance of SIB, and test sessions ended after a fixed length of time. Latency to SIB was compared across conditions, whereas latency and rate measures for both SIB and functional communication responses were compared for the functional communication training condition. Results suggest that latency measures may be too sensitive during treatment analyses and that it is beneficial to use a hybrid procedure that allows for both latency and rate comparisons.