Spoon distance fading with and without escape extinction as treatment for food refusal

Little is known about the characteristics of meals that serve as motivating operations (MOs) for escape behavior. In the current investigation, we showed that the distance at which a therapist held a spoon from a child's lips served as an MO for escape behavior. Based on these results, we implemented spoon distance fading, compared fading with and without escape extinction (EE), and compared fading plus EE to EE alone. Initially, inappropriate mealtime behavior decreased during fading, but this effect was not maintained as fading progressed. Inappropriate mealtime behavior was lower initially when we combined fading and EE relative to EE alone, but acceptance increased more rapidly with EE than with fading plus EE. These results suggest that a number of mealtime characteristics might function as MOs for escape behavior and that analyses of MOs may be useful for developing treatments for food refusal.     

Using a flipped spoon to decrease packing in children with feeding disorders

We evaluated the effects of redistribution and swallow facilitation with a flipped spoon on packing in 2 children with a feeding disorder. For both participants, packing decreased when we implemented the flipped spoon treatment package. Mechanisms responsible for behavior change and areas of future research are discussed.     

Putative behavioral history effects and aggression maintained by escape from therapists

Differentially higher rates of aggression in treatment sessions occurred in the presence of two staff members who had previously worked with the participant at another facility. Adding an edible reinforcer for compliance and the absence of aggression in sessions conducted by these two staff members decreased aggression to rates similar to those obtained with less familiar therapists. Results suggest that embedding positive reinforcement within a demand context may reduce the aversiveness of therapists correlated with a history of demand situations.     

Effects of escape to alone versus escape to enriched environments on adaptive and aberrant behavior

Escape-maintained aberrant behavior may be influenced by two outcomes: (a) a break from the activity and (b) subsequent access to preferred activities. To assess this hypothesis, a treatment was developed that analyzed response allocation across two break options: break alone and break with access to preferred social activities. The break with preferred activities decreased aberrant behavior and increased appropriate behavior.     

COMBINING STIMULUS FADING,REINFORCEMENT, AND EXTINCTION TO TREAT FOOD REFUSAL

The food refusal of a 6-year-old girl with destructive behavior was treated using stimulus fading, reinforcement, and escape extinction. Intake increased and compliance with prompting procedures remained relatively stable despite the increased consumption requirement.     

NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT IN APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS: AN EMERGING TECHNOLOGY

Although the effects of negative reinforcement on human behavior have been studied for a number of years, a comprehensive body of applied research does not exist at this time. This article describes three aspeas of negative reinforcement as it relates to applied behavior analysis: behavior acquired or maintained through negative reinforcement, the treatment of negatively reinforced behavior, and negative reinforcement as therapy. A consideration of research currently being done in these areas suggests the emergence of an applied technology on negative reinforcement.     

Human aggressive responses maintained by avoidance or escape from point loss.

During 50-min sessions, 6 male human subjects could press either Button A or Button B available as nonreversible options. Button A presses were nonaggressive responses and earned points according to a fixed-ratio 100 schedule. Prior to the experiment subjects were instructed that every 10 (fixed-ratio 10) Button B presses (aggressive responses) subtracted a point from a fictitious 2nd subject. A random-time schedule of point loss was used to engender aggressive responding. The instructions attributed these point losses to the Button B presses of the subject's fictitious partner. Aggressive responding either escaped or avoided point loss by initiating an interval free of point loss. The duration of the interval was varied systematically across sessions. Avoidance contingencies maintained a high rate of aggressive responding over 30 sessions in the absence of point loss. Escape contingencies also maintained aggressive responding across sessions, with rates of aggressive responding corresponding to rates of point loss.     

ENURESIS CONTROL THROUGH FADING,ESCAPE, AND AVOIDANCE TRAINING

A twin-signal device that provides both escape and avoidance conditioning in enuresis control is described involving a procedure documented by two case studies. In addition, a technique of fading as an adjunct to the process is utilized with one subject. The results indicate that a combination of operant and respondent conditioning involving escape and avoidance training may be an improvement over the more traditional conditioning procedure.     

Does preference rank predict substitution for the reinforcer for problem behavior? a behavioral economic analysis

Predictions made under low response requirements inherent in most preference assessments (PAs) do not guarantee the utility of stimuli in treatments. We examined whether PA rank would predict how well stimuli supported compliance for children with escape‐maintained problem behavior by examining the relation between PA rank and demand elasticity across five fixed‐ratio values. Three patterns were observed: All stimuli were selected equally across values, higher ranked stimuli were selected more at higher values, and something other than the highest ranked stimulus was selected more at higher values (i.e., mixed correspondence).     

Functional analysis and treatment of problem behavior evoked by noise.

We conducted a four‐part investigation to develop methods for assessing and treating problem behavior evoked by noise. In Phase 1, 7 participants with developmental disabilities who were described as being hypersensitive to specific noises were exposed to a series of noises under controlled conditions. Results for 2 of the participants verified that noise was apparently an aversive event. In Phase 2, results of functional analyses indicated that these 2 participants' problem behaviors were maintained by escape from noise. In Phase 3, preference assessments were conducted to identify reinforcers that might be used during treatment. Finally, in Phase 4, the 2 participants' problem behaviors were successfully treated with extinction, stimulus fading, and a differential‐reinforcement‐of‐other‐behavior (DRO) contingency (only 1 participant required DRO). Treatment effects for both participants generalized to their home environments and were maintained during a follow‐up assessment. Procedures and results were discussed in terms of their relevance to the systematic assessment of noise as an establishing operation (EO) and, more generally, to the identification of idiosyncratic EO influences on behavior.