Abstract
Aerophagia is a functional gastrointestinal disorder characterized by excessive swallowing of air associated with abdominal distension and pain, flatulence, belching, nausea, and vomiting. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an antecedent-based behavioral intervention on aerophagia with an adolescent female diagnosed with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS), severe intellectual disability, and herpes simplex virus infection of the central nervous system with chronic static encephalopathy. Results from a functional analysis and multiple-component aerophagia assessment suggested that aerophagia persisted in the absence of social consequences (i.e., maintained by automatic reinforcement), and was sensitive to activity-based antecedent manipulations. Results from the behavioral treatment evaluation yielded clinically and statistically significant decreases in aerophagia with behavioral treatment alone, and with combined behavioral-pharmacological treatment.
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Notes
Broadly, in no-interaction conditions the participant remains with the therapist in a room without leisure items; all target behavior is ignored, and the therapist does not interact with the participant (see Querim et al., 2013). Querim and colleagues demonstrated the results from series of no-interaction functional analysis conditions accurately predicted the presence of automatic functions in 95% of cases. Thus, these methods represent effective and efficient screening procedures to confirm that target behavior is maintained by automatic reinforcement.
This design was selected in part because medical evidence from Amy’s physician indicated that prolonged aerophagia may exacerbate seizure-related activity associated with LGS. Thus, abbreviated probe baselines allowed us to demonstrate experimental control while also limiting the total number of sessions with elevated aerophagia per clinic visit.
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Falligant, J.M., Ojo, M.O. & Huete, J.M. Behavioral Assessment and Treatment of Aerophagia in an Adolescent with Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome and Herpes Simplex Encephalitis. J Dev Phys Disabil 32, 915–923 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10882-019-09725-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10882-019-09725-w