Citation

Harding JW, Wacker DP, Berg WK, Barretto A, Rankin B. Educ. Treat. Child. 2002; 25(1): 26-46.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, West Virginia University Press)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Choice-making procedures were used to identify response-reinforcer relations during assessment and treatment phases with two preschool-aged children diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorder who displayed severe problem behavior in their homes. During the assessment phase, a functional analysis identified that multiple classes of social reinforcers maintained problem behavior for both children. The children's engagement with specific toys, and their time allocation between preferred toys and adult attention, were assessed using choice-making procedures. The results of these assessment procedures showed that both children (a) displayed problem behavior maintained by both positive (access to tangibles) and negative (escape from demands) reinforcement, (b) displayed high engagement levels with specific toys (i. e., demonstrated distinct preferences), and (c) allocated more time to choice conditions that provided access to highly preferred toys than to parent attention. These combined results were used to develop preliminary treatment packages in which access to positive reinforcement was contingent on the child complying to parent instructions. Treatment probe results indicated that both children showed reductions in problem behavior and increased their compliance to parent instructions. However, the type of reinforcement that appeared to control the children's behavior varied across the two children. One child's behavior appeared to be more sensitive to negative reinforcement, whereas the other child appeared to be more sensitive to tangible reinforcement. These results are discussed relative to viewing behavior as competing choice responses.

Language: en