Activity schedules, guided compliance, and differential reinforcement are often used to reduce transition‐related problem behavior in children with autism. One potential way to increase the effectiveness of these procedures when transitioning children from preferred to nonpreferred activities is to alter the motivating operations for noncompliance. In Experiment 1, we used an alternating treatments design to compare the effects of activity schedules plus guided compliance alone and when combined with four brief interruptions, each followed by attention and immediate resumption in the preferred activity. Two preschool‐aged children with autism participated. Although the combined procedure was more effective, the extent to which it temporarily reduced the reinforcing value of the pretransition activity was unclear. Experiment 2 addressed this limitation by directly examining the value‐altering effect of brief interruptions. Two different preschool‐aged children participated. Using a reversal design, response‐restriction preference assessments were conducted with and without brief interruptions. Results indicated that both children's preferred activity was engaged in less when interrupted, but engagement levels immediately resumed when interruptions were withdrawn. Possible functions of brief interruptions followed by attention and resumption in a preferred activity are discussed.
Given the authority of state government over public education, one means of narrowing the best-practice to actual-practice gap in education is by putting forth clear state guidance and recommendations to schools. To date, however, little is known about the national landscape of procedural guidance that is readily available to practitioners looking to implement multitiered systems of support for behavior (MTSS-B). The purpose of the current study was to conduct a systematic review of state department of education websites to understand what guidance is afforded to local education agencies regarding MTSS-B. Results supported that roughly half of the states provided some form of procedural guidance for MTSS-B; however, both the type (e.g., what interventions to use, how often to progress monitor) and level of guidance varied widely. When states did provide behavior-specific guidance, documents were most likely to include specification of what types of interventions and measures to utilize; information less typically focused on assessment such as indications as to how often data should be collected and reviewed or what decision rule(s) should be used to determine student responsiveness. Implications for local implementation and strengthening future state-level guidance for MTSS-B are discussed.
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