摘要:

The popularity and reported success of biofeedback treatment for neuromuscular disorders has occurred despite a lack of research identifying the critical variables responsible for therapeutic gain. In this study, we assessed the degree to which severe neurological dysfunction could be improved by using one of the components present in all biofeedback treatment, contingency management. Three cases of orofacial dysfunction were treated by reinforcing specific improvements reliably detectable without the use of biofeedback equipment. The results showed that contingency management procedures alone were sufficient to improve overt motor responses but, unlike biofeedback treatment, did not produce decreases in the hypertonic muscle groups associated with the trained motor behavior. The findings suggest that sophisticated, expensive biofeedback equipment may not be necessary in treating some neuromuscular disorders and that important clinical gains may be achieved by redesigning the patient's daily environment to be contingently therapeutic, rather than only accommodating the disabilities of the physically handicapped.

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1984.17-413

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

We investigated the programming of generalization and maintenance of correspondence between verbal and nonverbal behavior in a preschool setting. Four children participated in a series of multiple‐baseline designs. In Experiment 1, delayed reinforcement of verbal behavior effectively controlled maintenance of correspondence with previously trained responses and also resulted in generalization of correspondence to one untrained response. As the latter effect was limited, Experiment 2 was a further assessment of the effects of delayed reinforcement of generalization of correspondence to untrained responses, and consistent generalization was shown. Experiment 2 also showed that generalization, if lost, could be recovered through use of “booster training,” in which the original contingencies were reinstated for a brief period. Experiment 3 provided replications, with two additional children, of the effects of delayed reinforcement on maintenance of correspondence. Results are discussed in terms of using delayed reinforcement as an indiscriminable contin

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1984.17-429

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

We evaluated a training package designed to teach menstrual care skills to five mild to severely mentally retarded women. Three specific skill areas (changing stained underwear; sanitary napkin; andbothstained underwear and sanitary napkin) were task analyzed and taught in a sequential manner. Results of a multiple‐baseline design across women indicated that the training package was successful in teaching these skills; the women continued to perform the skills during naturally occurring menses up to 5 months following termination of the stud

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1984.17-441

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

We evaluated the effects of two procedures for teaching four developmentally disabled children to respond yes/no appropriately. During baseline, tutoring was conducted in which five known items were individually presented with the question, “Is this a_____?”, followed either by access to requested items or by remedial prompting contingent on responding. When tutoring did not improve performance, instruction was embedded in the regular classroom activities. In this condition, items requested by students were either presented or withheld on the basis of their response to the question, “Do you want ______?”. Increases in correa responding were confirmed by a multiple‐baseline design across all four students and were maintained with the introduction of new items. However, generalization to “Is this a_____?” questions did not occur in the tutoring setting until specifically programmed. Subsequently, students also demonstrated appropriate yes/no responding to questions involving actions, possession, and spat

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1984.17-453

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

We evaluated the effects of a peer‐training strategy, consisting of direct prompting and modeling, on the occurrence and duration of interactions between autistic students and nonautistic peer‐trainers. Data were obtained in both training and generalization settings. The results of a multiple‐baseline design across students demonstrated that: (a) the direct prompting procedure produced immediate and substantial increases in the occurrences and durations of positive social interactions between the peer‐trainers and autistic students; (b) these increases were maintained across time at levels above baseline during subsequent free‐play probes; (c) these findings were judged by teachers to be socially valid; (d) untrained peers increased their interactions with the autistic students in three of the four groups; (e) generalization of behavior change across settings occurred only after specific programming; and (f) interactions between untrained peers and peer‐trainers decreased following training. Variables that may account for the results and the implications of these findings for peer‐mediated interventions

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1984.17-461

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The relationship between reinforcer amount and daytime smoking reduction in smokers offered money for reduced afternoon breath carbon monoxide (CO) levels was examined. Twenty‐three hired regular smokers with average baseline CO levels of about 30 ppm were exposed in random order to five sliding scale payment schedules that changed daily or weekly. Money was available for afternoon CO readings between 0 and 21 ppm with pay amount inversely related to the absolute CO reading obtained. Maximum pay amount for readings below 7 ppm varied among $0, $1.50, $3, $6, and $12 per day. Contingent reinforcement promoted CO and daytime cigarette reduction within individuals with the amount of behavior change related to the amount of payment available. Average CO levels decreased from 30 to 15 ppm as a function of pay amount whereas self‐reported daytime cigarettes decreased from 12 to 5 per day. Average minutes of cigarette abstinence prior to the afternoon study contact increased from 62 to 319 minutes as a function of pay amount, whereas the percentage of available money earned increased from 22% to 48%. Nontargeted evening cigarette use also decreased during periods of daytime smoking reduction. The orderly effects of this contingent reinforcement intervention on daytime smoking of regular smoker volunteers suggest that this is a sensitive model for continued evaluation of factors that influence smoking reduction and cessat

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1984.17-477

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

We evaluated the effects of adding a social support component to a worksite controlled smoking treatment program. Twenty‐four participants were randomly assigned to either a controlled smoking or a controlled smoking plus partner support condition. Within a multiple baseline across behaviors design, smokers in both conditions made efforts to achieve sequential 50% reductions in: (a) nicotine content of brand smoked, (b) number of cigarettes smoked per day, and (c) percentage of each cigarette smoked. Self‐monitoring records, laboratory analyses of spent cigarette butts, and carbon monoxide determinations indicated that both conditions were effective in producing significant reductions in each of the three target behaviors and in carbon monoxide levels. All participants who quit smoking during the program maintained their abstinence at a 6‐month follow‐up, and those who did not quit were smoking less at follow‐up than they had at pretest on all dependent variables. However, few differences were observed between controlled smoking and controlled smoking plus partner support conditions either during treatment or at the 6‐month follow‐up. Results are discussed with regard to previous worksite studies, future directions for research on social support, and variables that may have mediated trea

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1984.17-485

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

There are many opportunities in a family's daily routine to enrich the interactions among its members. One such opportunity arises at family restaurants. Surveys of restaurant personnel and customers suggested the possibility of enriching family interactions by redesigning indigenous materials such as table placemats. Accordingly, we developed Table‐Talk placemats that provided conversational topics and illustrated games in which the entire family could participate. After some testing of these placemats in a preschool, a field experiment was conducted with families dining in restaurants. Table‐Talk placements occasioned more social and educational dialogue among family members than either traditional‐placemat or no‐material conditions. Social validation ratings provided by mental health counselors and the parents suggested that Table‐Talk placemats occasioned healthy and enjoyable interactions among famil

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1984.17-497

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The effects of a response prevention strategy consisting of the fading of restraint and the removal of reinforcers on nocturnal thumbsucking behavior was evaluated in four experiments. In the first experiment, nocturnal thumbsucking was restrained for approximately 1 week by having each of two boys wear a boxing glove to bed. Next they wore absorbent cotton over the thumb for 11 nights. During the last phase in this condition, they wore a fingertip bandage over the thumb for 10 to 11 nights. The response prevention package completely eliminated thumbsucking behavior in both boys. In the second experiment, the removal of reinforcers alone for nocturnal thumbsucking had little or no effect on the thumbsucking behavior of three girls whereas the later introduction of the entire package completely suppressed thumbsucking in all three girls. In the third experiment, the package was evaluated in the absence of the glove restraint condition. The results showed that the treatment package was effective in the absence of the glove restraint condition for all three children. The final experiment examined whether the package could be effective if the absorbent cotton condition was abruptly removed without using the fingertip bandage condition. The results showed the treatment to be effective with one of two boys, but not the other.

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1984.17-509

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

In three experiments, we compared the effects of instructional arrangements that varied in: (a) teacher versus peer mediators, (b) methods used, (c) levels of student academic responding generated, and (d) content taught and tested. Instructional arrangements (i.e., tasks, structure, teacher position, teacher behavior) and students' levels of academic responding were measured by an observation system which served as an index of the independent variables. Students' accuracy on weekly spelling, arithmetic, and vocabulary tests and pre‐ and post‐standardized achievement tests (Experiments 2 and 3 only) were the dependent variables. Results indicated that the classwide peer tutoring, compared to the teacher's procedure, produced more student academic responding and higher weekly test scores, regardless of treatment order or subject matter content (Experiment 1). The four lowest performing students in each class, in particular, benefited from peer tutoring, often performing as well as the other students. These findings were replicated in Experiments 2 and 3 wherein content taught/tested was also manipulated. Standardized test score gains were higher in those areas in which peer tutoring was used longest. Issues related to the functional analysis of instruction and achievement gain are discus

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1984.17-521

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY