Many researchers have evaluated how characteristics of feedback may influence trainee performance, but relatively little attention has been allocated to directly assessing trainee preference for feedback characteristics and its relation to performance. Thus, the primary purpose of this study was to use a within-subject experimental design to…

We examined the effects of a self-instructional and feedback package on participants' implementation of a paired-stimulus preference assessment. Specifically, in Experiment 1, we used a multiple baseline design across participants to replicate and extend the results of Graff and Karsten (2012) by evaluating the effectiveness of their…

We examined whether the results of a response-restriction analysis (RRA) could be predicted on the basis of response distribution in early sessions, when these sessions indicated interaction with multiple items. Four preschool-aged children participated. For 3 of the 4 participants, the results from sessions conducted prior to restriction of the…

Working with elementary students with disabilities, we used alternating treatment designs to evaluate and compare the effects of 2 computer-based flash card sight-word reading interventions, 1 with 1-s response intervals and another with 5-s response intervals. In Study 1, we held instructional time constant, applying both interventions for 3?min.…

Competing stimulus assessments (CSA) have been used to identify stimuli that are associated with reduced levels of problem behavior, presumably as a function of reinforcer competition. Following a standard CSA in which stimuli simply were made available, 2 more CSAs were conducted with additional components designed to enhance reinforcer…

We evaluated a multiple schedule in which the extinction (S-) components were signaled overtly by a black lanyard and the reinforcement (S+) components were not correlated with any programmed stimuli in developing stimulus control over the high-rate social-approach responses of an adult with mental retardation. Responding was consistently low in…

We evaluated 2 3-component multiple-schedule sequences--a response interruption and redirection (RIRD) treatment sequence and a no-interaction control sequence--using a multielement design. With this design, we were able to evaluate the immediate and subsequent effects of RIRD on 2 participants' vocal stereotypy. For both participants, RIRD…

Two studies were conducted that examined the preference of a student diagnosed with a brain injury. In Study 1, a preference assessment was followed by a three-choice concurrent operants reinforcer assessment. Two choices resulted in access to preferred activities for completing work, and a third choice resulted in access to nothing (i.e., no…

Stereotypical behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement often does not result in harm but may be undesirable in some situations. In the current investigation, participants were 2 individuals who engaged in nonharmful stereotypical responses shown in an analogue functional analysis to be insensitive to social contingencies. After bringing…

The use of response cards during whole-class English vocabulary instruction was evaluated. Five low-participating students were observed during hand-raising conditions and response-card conditions to observe the effects of response cards on student responding and test scores and teacher questions and feedback. Responding and test scores were…

Many students struggle with statistical concepts such as interaction. In an experimental group, participants took a paper-and-pencil test and then were given training to establish equivalent classes containing four different statistical interactions. All participants formed the equivalence classes and showed maintenance when probes contained novel…

The study evaluated the effects of a time-efficient reinforcer assessment package with three preschoolers with autism. Systematic assessment of children's reinforcers for correct responding virtually eliminated nontargeted maladaptive behaviors, and yielded expected improvements in accuracy. (Author/DB)