red to self monitor for the following antecedents: clenched fists, tight jaw, rapid heart beat, and the emotions of anger, frustration and disappointment. Lastly, it was suggested by Infante (1995) that appropriate strategy must be taken to prevent verbal aggression from escalating. Successful avoidance of the antecedent conditions consisted of removing oneself from stressful situations, when possible, as well as not responding verbally when provoked. Weekly consultation revealed that verbal aggression was most often used to: 1) Escape demand situations. 2) Avoid demand situations. 3) Relieve job stress. The subject was to document the frequency of verbal aggression and record the circumstances of significant success or failure during the work week for discussion at weekly consultation sessions. A schedule of reinforcement was developed for the subject. The reinforcement was to be given for successful avoidance of verbal aggression. Reinforcement included: five minutes alone for 'quiet time', when possible, or a short, silent prayer. Considering the stress and escalating nature of verbal aggression time alone was considered appropriate for 'cool down'. If time alone was not possible or convenient the subject would say a short prayer when provoked. Results The results of the baseline phase revealed what was considered an extraordinarily high rate of verbal aggression. However, after the first week of data collection it was realized that verbal aggression was not operationally defined. The subject considered verbal aggression on much broader terms than did the therapist which included subjective, rather than objective, behavior observations. Weekly consultation sessions revealed that cursing was the most common manifestation of the target behavior. When correctly defined using objective terms a decrease in verbal aggression was noted. Based on the results of baseline data it was mutually agreed that 4 to 8 episodes of aggression per day w...
