We replicated and extended Kanaman et al. (2022) by comparing outcomes of solitary (leisure items only), social (leisure items with social interaction), and combined (leisure items alone and leisure items with social interaction) stimulus preference assessments to determine the extent to which the inclusion of social interaction influenced the…

Vocal stereotypy is a commonly occurring challenging behavior in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that is frequently maintained by automatic reinforcement and often interferes with skill acquisition. Matched stimulation (MS), and response interruption and redirection (RIRD) are two interventions that have been demonstrated to be…

This study examined the effectiveness of using qualitatively different reinforcers to teach self-control to an adolescent boy who had been diagnosed with an intellectual disability. First, he was instructed to engage in an activity without programmed reinforcement. Next, he was instructed to engage in the activity under a two-choice fixed-duration…

We evaluated antecedent exercise for treating the automatically reinforced problem behavior of 4 individuals with autism. We conducted preference assessments to identify leisure and exercise items that were associated with high levels of engagement and low levels of problem behavior. Next, we conducted three 3-component multiple-schedule…

Top-ranked items were identified during 30-min free-operant preference assessments for 9 individuals. Data from each session were analyzed to identify the item (a) that was engaged with first in each session and (b) to which the most responding was allocated after 5 min, 10 min, 15 min, 20 min, and 25 min had elapsed in each session. The results…

Prior research indicates that reinforcement of an appropriate response (e.g., compliance) can produce concomitant reductions in problem behavior reinforced by escape when problem behavior continues to produce negative reinforcement (e.g., Lalli et al., 1999). These effects may be due to a preference for positive over negative reinforcement or to…

Few studies have explored the effects of fixed-time (FT) reinforcement on escape-maintained behavior of students in a classroom setting. We measured the effects of an FT schedule on the disruptive and appropriate academic behaviors of 2 junior high students in a public school setting. Results demonstrated that FT escape from tasks resulted in a…

Differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) is used frequently as a treatment for problem behavior. Previous studies on treatment integrity failures during DRA suggest that the intervention is robust, but research has not yet investigated the effects of different types of integrity failures. We examined the effects of two types of…

The effects of long and short durations of positive practice overcorrection were studied with one moderately retarded and four severely retarded children (10 to 13 years old). The short and long practice durations (30 seconds and three minutes) produced equally rapid reduction of off-task behavior and acquisition of correct object placement…

This study found that, in a task context, differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) effectively reduced problem behavior and increased task performance of 2 adolescents with severe disabilities (ages 15 and 19), whereas a time-out procedure was ineffective. In a leisure context, time-out was effective while DRO was ineffective.…

A 13-year-old who watched television excessively participated in a behavioral program featuring a token-actuated timer. Earned tokens activated the T.V. for 30-minute periods. The token-exchange system effectively reduced T.V. viewing and reductions were maintained at two followup points. (CL)

The purpose of this study was to examine the use of percentile schedules as a method of quantifying the shaping procedure in an educational setting. We compared duration of task engagement during baseline measurements for 4 students to duration of task engagement during a percentile schedule. As a secondary purpose, we examined the influence on…

Using an ABAB design, two procedures for requesting a change of activity were compared for their effect on the stereotypic behavior of a man with autism. One procedure requested immediate change of activities, whereas the second procedure gave advance notice of a change. Less stereotypy occurred when advance notice of change was given. (Author/DB)

The study evaluated the effectiveness of superimposition and subsequent removal of a schedule of continuous reinforcement (CRF) as a rate-decreasing procedure in efforts to eliminate unwanted behaviors. Examination of lever-pressing patterns of eight male rats showed responding was substantially reduced during the superimposition of CRF but…

The study evaluated a commonly used component of brief time-out, in which release from time-out is delayed contingent on the occurrence of the disruption. Data were collected for one normal and two mentally retarded children on time-out producing behaviors and delay-producing behaviors during time-out. (Author/CL)