Overview
According to Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2020), once medical agitators are ruled out as antecedents for Amanda's behavior by the pediatric neurologist, then escape through negative reinforcement may be tested as the hypothetical behavioral function. After the observable behavior has been accurately identified (Critchfield, T. S., & Shue, E. Z. H., 2018), testing may be done with an Antecedent Behavior, Consequence (ABC) method of analysis to observe for a possible antecedent, followed by a functional analysis test to find the culprit antecedent. If Amanda asks to go to the nurse's office after the hypothetical antecedent has been applied in a controlled environment, with an ABA professional, the search for the culprit antecedent has been successful, proving escape as the behavioral function (Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L., 2020).
References:
Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2020). Applied behavior analysis (3rd ed.). Pearson.
Critchfield, T. S., & Shue, E. Z. H. (2018). The dead man test: A preliminary experimental analysis. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 11(4), 381–384. doi.org