Analysis of demand conditions associated with stereotypy

261

317

Previous research implies that stereotypic behavior tends to be maintained by the sensory consequences produced by engaging in the response. Few investigations, however, have focused on vocal stereotypy. The current study examined the noncommunicative vocalizations of 4 children with an autism spectrum disorder. First, functional analyses were conducted in an attempt to identify the function of each child's behavior. For each of the participants, it was found that vocal stereotypy was likely not maintained by the social consequences. Following assessment, response interruption and redirection (RIRD) was implemented in an ABAB design to determine whether vocal stereotypy could be successfully redirected. RIRD involved a teacher issuing a series of vocal demands the child readily complied with during regular academic programming. Vocal demands were presented contingent on the occurrence of vocal stereotypy and were continuously presented until the child complied with three consecutively issued demands without emitting vocal stereotypy. For each child, RIRD produced levels of vocal stereotypy substantially lower than those observed in baseline. For 3 of the children, an increase in appropriate communication was also observed. The children's teachers were trained to implement RIRD. Brief follow-up probes and anecdotal information implied that the treatment had a positive impact in the natural environment.

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing and Treating Vocal Stereotypy in Children With Autism

Ahearn

Clark

MacDonald

et al. 2007

261

317

“…Recent research has shown that stereotypic behavior among persons with developmental disabilities can be affected by social contingencies (e.g., Durand & Carr, 1987;Mace, Browder, & Lin, 1987). Most subjects in these studies engaged in high rates of stereotypy when presented with challenging tasks or when the arranged consequence for stereotypy was a brief escape from task-related de-mands.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioral Momentum in the Treatment of Escape‐motivated Stereotypy

Mace

Belfiore

1990

145

104

Descriptive and experimental analyses of stereotypy by a woman with severe mental retardation showed that the behavior was maintained by escape from demands. A sequence of high-probability requests issued immediately prior to a task-related request established a momentum of compliance that increased compliance with task-related demands. Increases in compliance were accompanied by collateral reductions in stereotypic behavior. A mechanism ofresponse covariation, called functional incompatibility, and an animal analogue study for testing the validity ofthis mechanism are proposed.

“…Investigations of the properties of demands that establish escape motivation are limited. However, investigators have identified a number of dimensions that are salient in one or more cases, including task difficulty (Carr & Durand, 1985a;Weeks & Gaylord-Ross, 1981), type of required motor responses (Dunlap, KernDunlap, Clarke, & Robbins, 1991), number of required responses (Mace, Browder, & Lin, 1987), task novelty (Mace et al, 1987), duration of instructional sessions (Dunlap et al, 1991), rate of task presentation (Smith, Iwata, Goh, & Shore, 1995), unpredictability of events (Flannery & Horner, 1994), and task preference (Dunlap et al, 1991;Foster-Johnson, Ferro, & Dunlap, 1994). In addition, the probability of problem behavior following a particular demand may be reduced by prior or interspersed events such as storytelling (Carr, Newsom, & Binkoff, 1976), social comments (Kennedy, Itkonen, & Lindquist, 1995), demands highly likely to be complied with (Mace & Belfiore, 1990), and advance notification (Tustin, 1995).…”

Section: Social-negative Reinforcementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Establishing Operations: Implications for the Assessment, Treatment, and Prevention of Problem Behavior

McGill

1999

150

136

This paper seeks to integrate Michael's (1982Michael's ( , 1993 discussion of the concept of the establishing operation (EO) with existing conceptual and empirical analyses of problem behavior in people with developmental disabilities. The paper begins with a summary of Michael (1993), which seeks to describe his concept of the EO and place it briefly in historical context. The role of EOs in evoking and establishing motivation for problem behavior is considered in some detail. A case is made for the greater consideration of EOs in the functional analysis of problem behavior, and specific suggestions for detecting the operation of conditioned establishing operations are offered. Turning to treatment, the paper considers the role played by EOs in existing procedures and discusses the development of treatment strategies that seek to modify EOs, extinguish EOs, and modify the responses evoked by EOs. Finally, consideration is given to the implications of EOs for the more systemic treatment and prevention of problem behavior.