Assessment and Treatment of a Foot Fetish Exhibited by an Adolescent With Autism

Ansley Hodges; David A Wilder; Hallie Ertel

doi:10.1007/s40617-020-00468-1

Assessment and Treatment of a Foot Fetish Exhibited by an Adolescent With Autism

Behav Anal Pract. 2020 Aug 13;13(4):961-965. doi: 10.1007/s40617-020-00468-1. eCollection 2020 Dec.

Authors

Ansley Hodges^{1

2}, David A Wilder², Hallie Ertel^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Nemours Children's Hospital, Orlando, FL USA.
² Florida Institute of Technology, School of Behavior Analysis, 150 w. University Blvd., Melbourne, FL 32901 USA.

Abstract

We conducted a functional analysis to identify the specific features of feet responsible for evoking inappropriate sexual behavior (ISB) by an adolescent male with autism. Results showed that bare female and male feet evoked ISB. We then evaluated a treatment consisting of a rule describing appropriate and inappropriate behavior in the presence of bare feet and a verbal reprimand contingent on ISB; the combination of these was effective. Finally, as an additional treatment option, we evaluated an environmental enrichment procedure, which also reduced ISB to low levels.

Keywords: Autism; Behavioral assessment; Fetish; Inappropriate sexual behavior.