Evaluation of Empirical Pretreatment Assessments for Developing Treatments for Packing in Pediatric Feeding Disorders.

A significant problem among children with feeding disorders is packing (i.e., pocketing or holding accepted food in the mouth), which could hinder successful treatment.

Behavioral Interventions for Pediatric Food Refusal Maintain Effectiveness Despite Integrity Degradation: A Preliminary Demonstration.

Food refusal is commonly treated using behavioral treatment packages consisting of differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) and escape extinction. However, the effectiveness of such behavioral interventions is inextricably linked to the integrity with which the procedures are conducted. Although previous research has evaluated the effects of treatment integrity failures for behavioral interventions related to severe problem behavior and academic skill acquisition, the effects of these failures in the area of pediatric food refusal remain unknown.

A Comparison of Descriptive and Functional Analyses of Inappropriate Mealtime Behavior.

In recent years, rather than being used to assess the potential function of a response, descriptive assessment methods have been applied to evaluate potential consequences or contingencies for problem behavior (Borrero, Woods, Borrero, Masler, & Lesser in , 71-88. doi: 10.1901/jaba.

REDUCING AMBIGUITY IN THE FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT OF PROBLEM BEHAVIOR.

Severe problem behavior (e.g., self-injury and aggression) remains among the most serious challenges for the habilitation of persons with intellectual disabilities and is a significant obstacle to community integration.

Concurrent reinforcement schedules for problem behavior and appropriate behavior: experimental applications of the matching law.

This study evaluated how children who exhibited functionally equivalent problem and appropriate behavior allocate responding to experimentally arranged reinforcer rates. Relative reinforcer rates were arranged on concurrent variable-interval schedules and effects on relative response rates were interpreted using the generalized matching equation. Results showed that relative rates of responding approximated relative rates of reinforcement.

Descriptive analyses of pediatric food refusal and acceptance.

Functional analyses of inappropriate mealtime behavior typically include conditions to determine if the contingent delivery of attention, tangible items, or escape reinforce food refusal. In the current investigation, descriptive analyses were conducted for 25 children who had been admitted to a program for the assessment and treatment of food refusal to determine if the consequences commonly delivered during functional analyses were observed during parent-conducted meals. The conditional probabilities for the delivery of attention, tangible items, and escape following food refusal and acceptance were compared to the unconditional probabilities of each event.

Descriptive analyses of pediatric food refusal: the structure of parental attention.

Mealtime observations were conducted and occurrences of appropriate and inappropriate mealtime behavior and various forms of parental attention (e.g., coaxing, reprimands) were recorded for 25 children admitted to an intensive feeding program and their parents.

Descriptive and experimental analyses of potential precursors to problem behavior.

Unlabelled: We conducted descriptive observations of severe problem behavior for 2 individuals with autism to identify precursors to problem behavior. Several comparative probability analyses were conducted in addition to lag-sequential analyses using the descriptive data. Results of the descriptive analyses showed that the probability of the potential precursor was greater given problem behavior compared to the unconditional probability of the potential precursor.

Experimental analysis and treatment of multiply controlled problem behavior: a systematic replication and extension.

We evaluated interventions designed to reduce multiply controlled problem behavior exhibited by a young boy with developmental disabilities, using a multiple baseline design. Each intervention was designed to address a specific social function of problem behavior. Results showed that the separate interventions were useful in reducing problem behavior, and terminal schedules were reached by way of schedule thinning (attention condition) and delays to reinforcement (tangible and escape conditions).

On the role of attention in naturally occurring matching relations.

Prior researchers have evaluated the efficacy of using the matching law to describe naturally occurring behavior-environment interactions. However, spurious matching could be obtained if the response and environmental event were correlated, even if the event did not reinforce the response. To assess the likelihood of obtaining spurious matching when relating attention and problem behavior, we evaluated the problem behavior of 3 participants for whom attention did not serve as a reinforcer for problem behavior in a functional analysis.

A method for evaluating parameters of reinforcement during parent-child interactions.

We conducted functional analyses and identified reinforcers for problem behavior for three individuals with developmental disabilities. Based on results of the functional analysis, we evaluated the rate, probability, delay, and duration of reinforcement for problem and appropriate behavior during descriptive parent-child observations. Results showed that parameters of reinforcement, including rate, probability, delay, and duration may interact, and that evaluations of a single reinforcement parameter may be insufficient in describing response allocation.

Descriptive analyses of caregiver reprimands.

We conducted descriptive observations of 5 individuals with developmental disabilities and severe problem behavior while they interacted with their caregivers in either simulated environments (an inpatient hospital facility) or in their homes. The focus of the study was on caregiver reprimands and child problem behavior. Thus, we compared the frequency of problem behavior that immediately preceded a caregiver reprimand to that immediately following a caregiver reprimand, and the results showed that the frequency of problem behavior decreased following a reprimand.