Assessing preferences of individuals with developmental disabilities: a survey of current practices.

Although professionals working with individuals with developmental disabilities have much to gain from using systematic methods of reinforcer identification, practitioner knowledge and use of stimulus preference assessments (SPA) has rarely been examined. The purpose of this survey was to assess awareness and implementation of SPAs among professionals who serve people with developmental disabilities within and outside the field of applied behavior analysis. A total of 406 individuals responded to the survey; 246 respondents were recruited via direct email, and 160 respondents were recruited from Internet postings.

A comparison of procedural variations in teaching behavior chains: manual guidance, trainer completion, and no completion of untrained steps.

We compared variations for teaching a sequence of responses through forward chaining. Seven children who had been diagnosed with autism participated in a comparison of teacher completion (TC) of steps beyond the training step and manually guiding the student (SC) to complete steps beyond the training step. A no-completion (NC) condition, in which the steps beyond the training step were not completed, was added to the comparison with 4 of the participants.

An evaluation of antecedent exercise on behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement using a three-component multiple schedule.

We evaluated antecedent exercise for treating the automatically reinforced problem behavior of 4 individuals with autism. We conducted preference assessments to identify leisure and exercise items that were associated with high levels of engagement and low levels of problem behavior. Next, we conducted three 3-component multiple-schedule sequences: an antecedent-exercise test sequence, a noncontingent leisure-item control sequence, and a social-interaction control sequence.

Restricted interests and teacher presentation of items.

Restricted and repetitive behavior (RRB) is more pervasive, prevalent, frequent, and severe in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) than in their typical peers. One subtype of RRB is restricted interests in items or activities, which is evident in the manner in which individuals engage with items (e.g.

Resistance to disruption in a classroom setting.

Substantial experimental evidence indicates that behavior reinforced on a denser schedule is more resistant to disruption than is behavior reinforced on a thinner schedule. The present experiment studied resistance to disruption in a natural educational environment. Responding during familiar activities was reinforced on a multiple variable-interval (VI) 7-s VI 30-s schedule for 6 participants with developmental disabilities.

Response latency as an index of response strength during functional analyses of problem behavior.

Dependent variables in research on problem behavior typically are based on measures of response repetition, but these measures may be problematic when behavior poses high risk or when its occurrence terminates a session. We examined response latency as the index of behavior during assessment. In Experiment 1, we compared response rate and latency to the first response under acquisition and maintenance conditions.

The role of common motor responses in stimulus categorization by preschool children.

The purpose of this study was to assess the role of common motor responses as the "speaker" behavior on stimulus class formation, and the emergence of functional classes. Experiment 1 examined whether training one motor response to a set of three stimuli and a second motor response to another set of three stimuli would result in correct category-sort responses for 5 typically developing preschool children. Three of the children passed the categorization tests.

Using complex auditory-visual samples to produce emergent relations in children with autism.

Six participants with autism learned conditional relations between complex auditory-visual sample stimuli (dictated words and pictures) and simple visual comparisons (printed words) using matching-to-sample training procedures. Pre- and posttests examined potential stimulus control by each element of the complex sample when presented individually and emergence of additional conditional relations and oral labeling. Tests revealed class-consistent performance for all participants following training.

What Every Behavior Analyst Should Know About the "MMR Causes Autism" Hypothesis.

In 1998, the English physician Andrew Wakefield suggested that the MMR vaccine insults the guts of children who then regress developmentally and become autistic. Although his research did not provide firm evidence for this hypothesis, many believe that (a) the MMR vaccine can cause autism; (b) children with autism typically have gastrointestinal problems; and, (c) a necessary component of treating autism is "treating the gut" through dietary restrictions. Research has subsequently shown that Wakefield's hypothesis is unquestionably false, children with autism are not more likely to have gastrointestinal problems, and there is no sound evidence that diets are a valid treatment for autism.

Establishing derived textual control in activity schedules with children with autism.

Activity schedules are often used to facilitate task engagement and transition for children with autism. This study evaluated whether conditional discrimination training would serve to transfer the control from activity-schedule pictures to printed words (i.e.

A procedure for identifying precursors to problem behavior.

We describe a procedure for differentiating among potential precursor responses for use in a functional analysis. Conditional probability analysis of descriptive assessment data identified three potential precursors. Results from the indirect assessment corresponded with those obtained from the descriptive assessment.

The effect of stimulus discriminability on strategies for learning multiple temporal discriminations.

The goal was to identify training conditions under which temporal intervals that are signaled by different stimuli are memorized (i.e., the temporal behavior is readily shown to be under stimulus control).

Teaching Discrimination of Adult Gaze Direction to Children with Autism.

Three young children diagnosed with autism did not reliably locate objects in the environment on the basis of an adult's gaze shifts. A training program designed to teach gaze following used the activation of remote controlled mechanical toys as both prompts and consequences. Over several training sessions, toy activation was progressively delayed following the adult's gaze-shift cues.

Functional analysis and treatment of aggression maintained by preferred conversational topics.

After an initial functional analysis of a participant's aggression showed unclear outcomes, we conducted preference and reinforcer assessments to identify preferred forms of attention that may maintain problem behavior. Next, we conducted an extended functional analysis that included a modified attention condition. Results showed that the participant's aggression was maintained by access to preferred conversational topics.

Relative contributions of three descriptive methods: implications for behavioral assessment.

This study compared the outcomes of three descriptive analysis methods-the ABC method, the conditional probability method, and the conditional and background probability method-to each other and to the results obtained from functional analyses. Six individuals who had been diagnosed with developmental delays and exhibited problem behavior participated. Functional analyses indicated that participants' problem behavior was maintained by social positive reinforcement (n = 2), social negative reinforcement (n = 2), or automatic reinforcement (n = 2).

Using video modeling to teach reciprocal pretend play to children with autism.

The purpose of the present study was to use video modeling to teach children with autism to engage in reciprocal pretend play with typically developing peers. Scripted play scenarios involving various verbalizations and play actions with adults as models were videotaped. Two children with autism were each paired with a typically developing child, and a multiple-probe design across three play sets was used to evaluate the effects of the video modeling procedure.

The effects of response interruption and redirection and sertraline on vocal stereotypy.

Although response interruption and redirection (RIRD) has been shown to be successful in reducing vocal stereotypy, recent reports have suggested that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) may also reduce these behaviors. The purpose of the current investigation was to examine the effects of RIRD with and without sertraline on automatically maintained vocal stereotypy of a 4-year-old boy with autism. Results suggested that vocal stereotypy decreased when RIRD was implemented and that sertraline did not affect the participant's vocal stereotypy.

Assessing the utility of a demand assessment for functional analysis.

We evaluated the utility of an assessment for identifying tasks for the functional analysis demand condition with 4 individuals who had been diagnosed with autism. During the demand assessment, a therapist presented a variety of tasks, and observers measured problem behavior and compliance to identify demands associated with low levels of compliance or high levels of problem behavior (low-probability demands) and demands associated with high levels of compliance or low levels of problem behavior (high-probability demands). Results showed that clearer functional analysis outcomes were obtained for 3 of the 4 participants when low-probability rather than high-probability demands were used.

Further evaluation of leisure items in the attention condition of functional analyses.

Research suggests that including leisure items in the attention condition of a functional analysis may produce engagement that masks sensitivity to attention. In this study, 4 individuals' initial functional analyses indicated that behavior was maintained by nonsocial variables (n = 3) or by attention (n = 1). A preference assessment was used to identify items for subsequent functional analyses.

Generating variable and random schedules of reinforcement using Microsoft Excel macros.

Variable reinforcement schedules are used to arrange the availability of reinforcement following varying response ratios or intervals of time. Random reinforcement schedules are subtypes of variable reinforcement schedules that can be used to arrange the availability of reinforcement at a constant probability across number of responses or time. Generating schedule values for variable and random reinforcement schedules can be difficult.

A Comparison of Most-to-Least and Least-to-Most Prompting on the Acquisition of Solitary Play Skills.

Two studies are presented in which common prompting procedures were evaluated while teaching children with autism to build Lego(®) play structures. In the first study, most-to-least (MTL) and least-to-most (LTM) prompting were compared. All participants learned to build the play structures when the teacher used MTL, which was associated with fewer errors than LTM.

The effects of brief and extended stimulus availability on preference.

The effects of stimulus availability on preference were evaluated using two conditions of a modified preference assessment. Different preference hierarchies were found in 15-s access conditions than in 15-min access conditions. Subsequent comparisons of a short-availability high-preference stimulus and a long-availability high-preference stimulus verified differential preferences for stimuli based on duration of availability.

Use of a differential observing response to expand restricted stimulus control.

This study extends previous work on the use of differential observing responses (DOR) to remediate atypically restricted stimulus control. A participant with autism had high matching-to-sample accuracy scores with printed words that had no letters in common (e.g.

A comparison of momentary time sampling and partial-interval recording for evaluating functional relations.

In the current study, momentary time sampling (MTS) and partial-interval recording (PIR) were compared to continuous-duration recording of stereotypy and to the frequency of self-injury during a treatment analysis to determine whether the recording method affected data interpretation. Five previously conducted treatment analysis data sets were analyzed by creating separate graphic displays for each measurement method (duration or frequency, MTS, and PIR). An expert panel interview and structured criterion visual inspection were used to evaluate treatment effects across measurement methods.

Assessing and treating vocal stereotypy in children with autism.

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.