Nondirective prompting and noncontingent reinforcement in the treatment of destructive behavior during hygiene routines.

The escape-maintained destructive behavior of a girl with mental retardation persisted during hygiene routines with directive prompting, differential reinforcement for compliance, and extinction as treatment. Using nondirective prompting and noncontingent reinforcement, destructive behavior was reduced to near-zero levels during the hygiene routine.     

EVALUATION OF CLIENT PREFERENCE FOR FUNCTION-BASED TREATMENT PACKAGES

Functional communication training (FCT) and noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) are commonly prescribed treatments that are based on the results of a functional analysis. Both treatments involve delivery of the reinforcer that is responsible for the maintenance of destructive behavior. One major difference between the two treatment procedures is that client responding determines reinforcement delivery with FCT (e.g., reinforcement of communication is delivered on a fixed-ratio 1 schedule) but not with NCR (e.g., reinforcement is delivered on a fixed-time 30-s schedule). In the current investigation, FCT and NCR were equally effective in reducing 2 participants' destructive behavior that was sensitive to attention as reinforcement. After the treatment analysis, the participants' relative preference for each treatment was evaluated using a modified concurrent-chains procedure. Both participants demonstrated a preference for the FCT procedure. The results are discussed in terms of treatment efficacy and preference for control over when reinforcement is delivered. In addition, a method is demonstrated in which clients with developmental disabilities can participate in selecting treatments that are designed to reduce their destructive behavior.     

Spatial problem solving: The integration of independently learned cognitive maps

The process of mentally integrating separate regions of a layout into a unified representation is a critical component in generating inferred spatial information. Blindfolded subjects learned two different paths by tactual exploration. The subjects were then given information that permitted them to integrate the two cognitive maps of the paths into one map. In Experiment I, the speed and accuracy of originally learned and inferred movements within a path were equivalent, whereas inferred movements between the two paths were significantly slower and less accurate. In Experiment 2, the subjects could request additional training on the paths before they were given the integration information, and they also rated how well they knew the path on which they were tested. When the subjects judged that they remembered all or most of the path information, movements between two paths and within one path were performed with the same accuracy. The equivalent accuracy of all the movements suggests that cognitive integration can generate an accurate representation of an integrated layout when the path information is recalled.     

Semantic heuristics,syntactic analysis,and case-role assignment

Forster's (1979) proposals regarding the autonomy of syntax and his explanation of experiments that support the alternative interactive theory of syntactic analysis are briefly reviewed. It is argued that a slightly different account is consistent with evidence from neuropsychology. On the basis of the work of Linebarger, Schwartz, and Saffran (1983) with agrammatics, a distinction is drawn between a sentence's syntactic representation and its propositional representation. The suggestion is that the processor responsible for assigning case roles within a proposition has access to semantic and pragmatic information as well as to a purely syntatic representation. In this way, certain top-down effects in sentence processing can be comfortably accommodated without violating the autonomy of the syntactic representation.     

An evaluation of the value of choice with preschool children

The current study examined the reinforcing effects of choosing among alternatives in a four-part evaluation. In the first study, initial-link responses in a concurrent-chains arrangement resulted in access to terminal links in which the completion of an academic task resulted in (a) the choice of a reinforcer (choice), (b) the delivery of an identical reinforcer (no choice), or (c) no material reinforcer (control). Three patterns of responding emerged: persistent preference for choice (3 participants); initial preference for choice, which did not persist (2 participants); and preference for no choice (1 participant). Additional evaluations determined if preference for choice could be enhanced (Study 2) or established (Study 3) by including more stimuli from which to choose. Choice-link selections systematically increased for all participants when more items were available from which to choose. Study 4 identified the precise value of the opportunity to choose by progressively increasing the response requirement during the choice terminal links for 3 children and determining the point at which these children stopped selecting the choice link. All children continued to select the choice link even when the work required in the choice link was much greater than that arranged in the no-choice link.     

The effectiveness of and preschoolers' preferences for variations of multiple-schedule arrangements

Multiple schedules of reinforcement have been used to teach children to recruit attention only when it is available, thereby minimizing disruptive requesting during instructional activities. This procedure involves alternating periods of continuous reinforcement (CRF) with periods of extinction and correlating each period with a distinct and continuous discriminative stimulus. The present study evaluated the effectiveness of and children's preferences for multiple schedules in which (a) two different stimuli, one correlated with reinforcement (S+) and another correlated with extinction (S-), were presented; (b) only an S+ was presented (i.e., no stimulus was correlated with extinction), and (c) neither an S+ nor an S- was presented (i.e., a mixed schedule). S+/S- and S+ arrangements were similarly effective for 7 children, but 3 preferred the S+/S- condition and 4 preferred the S+ condition. Correlational analyses suggested that children who responded more effectively given the S- (discrimination indexes were relatively high) preferred the S+/S- condition, whereas children who responded less effectively given the S- preferred the S+ condition. The implications of these findings for arranging multiple schedules for social responses are discussed.     

Therapist + Social Media = Mental health influencer? Considering the research focusing upon key ethical issues around the use of social media by therapists

Current ethical guidelines for therapists who make use of social media are very limited. As a consequence, they leave much open to interpretation by professionals, an openness that may place the public and professionals at risk. This is particularly of note as therapists are increasingly making use of social media and many professionals are taking on roles as mental health influencers, both purposefully and without realising. Such developments raise many important ethical issues including considerations around influencer competency, integrity, the maintenance of confidentiality and risk management. These issues are briefly discussed in this paper alongside related current research focusing upon them. It is concluded that, despite the existence of ethical guidelines focusing upon social media use by therapists, current research suggests that therapists are not consistently following these guidelines. Moreover, it is argued that researchers and professional bodies, and their associated good practice guidelines, need to keep abreast of new developments to account for changes in social media usage.     

TREATMENT OF PICA THROUGH MULTIPLE ANALYSES OF ITS REINFORCING FUNCTIONS

We conducted functional analyses of the pica of 3 participants. The pica of 1 participant appeared to be maintained by automatic reinforcement; that of the other 2 participants appeared to be multiply controlled by social and automatic reinforcement. Subsequent preference and treatment analyses were used to identify stimuli that would compete with the automatic function of pica for the 3 participants. These analyses also identified the specific aspect of oral stimulation that served as automatic reinforcement for 2 of the participants. In addition, functional analysis-based treatments were used to address the socially motivated components of 2 of the participants' pica. Results are discussed in terms of (a) the importance of using the results of functional analyses to develop treatments for pica and (b) the advantages of developing indirect analyses to identify specific sources of reinforcement for automatically reinforced behavior.