Brief functional analysis and treatment of tantrums associated with transitions in preschool children

A brief functional analysis was used to examine the influence of termination of prechange activities and initiation of postchange activities on tantrums exhibited by 2 preschool children. For 1 participant, tantrums were maintained by access to certain (pretransition) activities. For a 2nd participant, tantrums were maintained by avoidance of certain task initiations. Although advance notice of an upcoming transition was ineffective, differential reinforcement of other behavior plus extinction reduced tantrums for both participants.