The current review examined the prevalence of the adapted alternating treatments design (AATD) across 22 special education journals and methods to equate and assign target sets to experimental conditions in the AATD. Since the seminal description of the design in 1985, a total of 49 articles were published using the AATD across 12 of the reviewed journals. The most prominent methods of equating target sets differed from prior reviews of behavior-analytic journals, likely due to the preponderance of response chains being targeted in special education research using the AATD. The majority of articles describe at least one method for equating target sets, although multiple methods were common. Additional methodological strengths in this literature included methods to reduce potential bias when assigning target sets to experimental conditions and counterbalancing target sets across participants. Considerations for practitioners and researchers when using the AATD are described.
Recent research on functional analyses (FAs) has examined the extent to which problem behavior is maintained by single (isolated) or combined (synthesized) reinforcement contingencies. Outcomes of these analyses might differ depending on the sources of information that are used to inform contingencies included in test conditions. The purpose of the current study was to compare the outcomes of isolated FAs and synthesized contingency analyses (SCAs) with 3 participants. Conditions in both analyses were informed by interviews and both unstructured and structured observations. Problem behavior for all 3 participants was maintained by 1 or 2 isolated reinforcers. Results suggested false‐positive SCA results for 2 participants. For 1 participant, a second isolated reinforcer was identified following the SCA, indicating the induction of a novel function. Implications for the use of isolated and synthesized consequences are discussed, as well as the predictive validity of the assessments that are used to inform them.
Behavioral momentum theory (BMT) suggests that resurgence of destructive behavior may be at least partly determined by the rate of alternative reinforcement, with lean schedules of reinforcement producing less resurgence than dense schedules. Findings from basic and translational studies have been mixed, and the effects of alternative reinforcement rate on resurgence remain unclear. In the current study, we conducted a within‐subject evaluation of resurgence during extinction with four children following functional communication training using dense and lean (BMT‐informed) schedules of alternative reinforcement. We observed no reliable differences in resurgence across the dense and lean conditions. We discuss implications of these findings in relation to future research using quantitative analyses to evaluate the relative effects of alternative reinforcement rate and other BMT‐based strategies for mitigating resurgence in applied settings.
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