Comparing response blocking and response interruption/redirection on levels of motor stereotypy: Effects of data analysis procedures.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is marked by deficits in social communication and the presence of restrictive and/or repetitive behaviors or interests. Motor stereotypy is a form of repetitive behavior that is common in ASD. Response Interruption and Redirection (RIRD) and response blocking (RB) are two interventions found to be efficacious in reducing motor stereotypy.

Choice in transition: Replication and extension to preschool children in a naturalistic setting.

This study replicated previous basic research into the dynamics of choice and extended this analysis to children's behavior in a naturalistic setting. Two preschoolers with disabilities were observed interacting with their teachers at baseline and during an experimental analysis involving four pairs of concurrent variable-interval schedules of adult attention implemented by an experimenter. Each child was exposed to four experimental phases in which the relative reinforcer rates for on- and off-task behavior were 10:1, 1:1, 1:10, and reversed back to 10:1.

The role of the physical environment in promoting physical activity in children across different group compositions.

Physical activity is an important health-related behavior, but the environmental variables that promote or abate it are not well understood. The purpose of this study was to conduct a functional analysis evaluating the effect of the physical environment on moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in preschool children, and to evaluate the utility of the methodology across different group compositions. The Observational System for Recording Physical Activity in Children was used to define the test conditions and the measures of physical activity for eight preschool children.

Further evaluation of a functional analysis of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity in young children.

Inadequate physical activity increases the risks related to several health problems in children; however, increasing physical activity mitigates these risks. In this study, we examined the relations between moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and several environmental conditions (attention, interactive play, alone, escape) with 4 preschool children. We compared the experimental conditions to a control condition and a naturalistic baseline according to a combined multielement and reversal design.

A functional analysis of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity in young children.

Inadequate physical activity increases the risks related to a number of health problems in children, most notably obesity and the corresponding range of associated health problems. The purpose of the current study was to conduct a functional analysis to investigate the effects of several consequent variables on moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). We observed the level of MVPA exhibited by 2 preschool children in 4 conditions: alone, attention contingent on MVPA, adult interaction contingent on MVPA, and escape from task demands contingent on MVPA.

The effect of outdoor activity context on physical activity in preschool children.

The purpose of the current study was to develop and test a method for assessing the effect of outdoor activity context on level of physical activity in preschool children. The observational system for recording physical activity in children was used to define the test conditions and various levels of physical activity within a multielement design. In general, all participants were fairly sedentary during the analysis.

Infant sign training and functional analysis.

We taught manual signs to typically developing infants using a reversal design and caregiver-nominated stimuli. We delivered the stimuli on a time-based schedule during baseline. During the intervention, we used progressive prompting and reinforcement, described by Thompson et al.