摘要:

Gentle teaching and visual screening techniques have been used to control severe behavior problems in persons with mental retardation. An alternating treatments design was used to compare gentle teaching, visual screening, and a task‐training condition in the reduction of the high‐level stereotypy of 3 persons with mental retardation. Following a baseline phase, a task‐training condition using standard behavioral techniques was implemented to establish the effects of training the subjects on the tasks. Results showed a modest decrease in stereotypy. This phase was followed by an alternating treatments phase in which visual screening, gentle teaching, and baseline conditions were compared. Both procedures were superior to the control condition in reducing stereotypic behavior, with visual screening being more effective than gentle teaching. When compared with data from the prior phase, gentle teaching was found to be more effective than task training for 2 subjects but less effective for the 3rd, whose stereotypy increased during gentle teaching. Two succeeding phases in which visual screening was implemented across two and then all three daily conditions reduced stereotypy further to near‐zero levels. An additional phase with 1 subject demonstrated that the treatment effects of visual screening were easily replicated across therapists. Mixed and idiosyncratic changes in collateral behaviors occurred. For example, “bonding,” the goal of gentle teaching, occurred at the same low levels under both treatments, contrary to the predictions of gentle teaching's proponents. The results indicate that gentle teaching may not be the universal treatment of choice for stereotypy its proponents suggest, and that it requires further empirical

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1989.22-9

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1989

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Behavioral assessment procedures were used to prescribe and evaluate treatments of maladaptive behavior for 2 children with severe multiple handicaps. In Experiment 1, the results of an assessment of reinforcer preference were used in conjunction with a functional analysis of the conditions maintaining self‐injurious behavior to prescribe a treatment for a child with severe disabilities. The treatment procedure involved the use of a pressure‐sensitive microswitch to activate reinforcing stimuli during two solitary conditions, during which self‐injurious behavior had occurred at high rates. The results were evaluated with a multiple baseline across settings design and indicated that self‐injury decreased with concomitant increases in microswitch activation. Results were maintained at 6 weeks, 8 weeks, and 6 months. In Experiment 2, the results of behavioral assessments of reinforcer preference and self‐injurious behavior were combined to develop a treatment for a second severely handicapped child, who exhibited high rates of self‐injury in demand situations. This treatment was evaluated with a multiple baseline across tasks design and resulted in the elimination of self‐injury for up

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1989.22-23

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1989

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Prior research has shown that muscle tics can be suppressed by the performance of a competing response contingent on the occurrence of the muscle tics. In an effort to determine whether the topography of the competing response was important to the muscle tic suppressing effects of contingent competing response practice, we evaluated the effects of a competing response that was topographicallydissimilarto the muscle tic. Three subjects engaged in dissimilar competing responses contingent on the occurrence of a muscle tic; 2 of these subjects subsequently engaged in similar competing response practice. The results showed a decrease in objective measures of muscle tic frequency with the introduction of dissimilar competing response practice for each subject; subsequent exposure to similar competing response practice for 2 subjects resulted in no additional decrement in the level of muscle tics. These results suggest that the topography of the competing response may not be crucial for the suppression of muscle tics. Discrepancies between the objective measures of muscle tics and self‐recorded measures are noted and discusse

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1989.22-35

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1989

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

We investigated the influence of teacher wait‐time and intertrial interval durations on the performance of 4 multiply handicapped students during instruction in 10 skills. Four experimental conditions were evaluated: long wait‐time and long intertrial interval, long wait‐time and short intertrial interval, short wait‐time and long intertrial interval, and short wait‐time and short intertrial interval. Instructors attempted to keep short intervals as close as possible to 1 s and long intervals as close as possible to 10 s for both variables. Results showed that student performance was superior under the long wait‐time conditions irrespective of the length of the intertri

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1989.22-43

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1989

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

A single‐subject design often used to compare the effectiveness of two or more independent variables (like treatment programs) is the multielement (alternating treatments or simultaneous treatments) design. Variants of this design approximate the concurrent comparison of the effects of two or more variables (or levels of variables) by programming the variables (or levels) in rapid alternation, typically across or within daily sessions. Properly combined with conventional reversal designs, these designs can also display a variety of interaction effects, some of them worrisome, others highly desirable for the future development of the field. A worrisome model is the possibility that when Treatment B alternates rapidly with Treatment C, the effects of each will not be the same as when each is the only treatment used. A desirable model is the use of the multielement design as a fast‐paced component of an otherwise conventional reversal design examining contextual control of some relationship: the possibility that some behavior responds differently to Controlling Variables A and B in Context X than in Context Y. This second possibility opens single‐subject designs to the more efficient examination of all interactive effects and is highly desirable, considering the prevalence and importance of interactions in determining the limits and the generality of currently understood behavioral phen

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1989.22-57

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1989

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Two studies were conducted examining the stimulus‐control effects of conventional traffic signs as prompts for motor vehicle driver safety belt use. Following pilot research which suggested that a traffic sign reading “Fasten Safety Belt” posted at a parking lot exit was effective in producing small increases in safety belt use, Study I demonstrated the superiority of having human prompters display such signs compared to simply posting the signs. Study II replicated the findings of Study I and found that posted signs became more effective in prompting safety belt use if simple posting was preceded by a period involving human prompters who displayed the signs. The results bear upon the development of more effective use of traffic signs in promoting safety belt use and in viewing such use as an instance of rule‐governed b

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1989.22-71

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1989

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This study investigated the use of videotaped exemplars taken from a regular education mathematics class to teach generalization of question asking. Three mildly handicapped fourth‐grade students who asked few questions in the regular education class served as subjects. Measures of the frequency of question asking and percentage of accuracy on assignments were obtained in the regular class. Treatment included showing the videotapes to the subjects, structuring opportunities for rehearsing question asking, and providing feedback. The results showed training procedures implemented in the learning resource room were effective in increasing the level of participants' question asking and in improving their scores on assignments in the regular mathematics clas

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1989.22-77

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1989

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Four students with moderate handicaps were taught to cash checks and to use an automatic teller through either a decreasing prompt hierarchy or time delay procedure. The strategies were compared within a multielement design. Results indicated that both strategies led to the acquisition of the target tasks; however, the decreasing prompt hierarchy was more efficient. Four and 8‐week follow‐up probes indicated that the strategies were equally effective in producing maintenance of performa

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1989.22-85

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1989

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

We provided tactile cues to a student who was deaf, blind, and mentally retarded to guide her performance on a variety of packaging tasks. The student had previously received extensive training on multiple packaging and sequencing tasks through her vocational education program. Although she was able to complete these tasks, each change in materials necessitated that similar levels of retraining be conducted in order for her to perform revised tasks. Tactile cues were introduced and evaluated through a multiple baseline with sequential withdrawal design for two envelope‐stuffing tasks and one bagging task. Results indicated that the tactile prompts were effective in guiding her performance on the training task and in promoting generalization to novel tasks and cues. Continued use of the cues was necessary to maintain the student's performance. Our findings suggest that tactile prompts function similarly to picture prompts and may be an effective alternative external prompting system for persons for whom picture prompts would not be appropriat

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1989.22-93

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1989

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Behavioral observations were conducted on 40 children admitted consecutively to an inpatient pediatric burn care unit (PBCU) over a 6‐month period. Children's responses to the PBCU environment as well as adult responses to patients were assessed. Data indicated that children most frequently (a) were oriented and alert, (b) emitted vocalizations or verbalizations, (c) were environmentally engaged, (d) and demonstrated positive or neutral affective responding. Adult‐child interactions occurred during the majority of observations. Age was found to be significantly related to the type of distress response exhibited. Positive responses indicative of patient well‐being were found to be associated with environmental engagement and the presence of other patients. In general, little evidence emerged to support the notion of a PBCU response pattern which resembles that observed in pediatric intensive care units (i.e., ICU syndrome). The use of observational methods for studying the behavioral adaptation of children in medical settings and the implications of the data for the design of interventions on PBCUs are disc

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1989.22-101

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1989

数据来源: WILEY