Developing and demonstrating inhibitory stimulus control over repetitive behavior

The Collateral Effects of Antecedent Exercise on Stereotypy and Other Nonstereotypic Behaviors Exhibited by Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review

The presence of stereotypy is one of the core features exhibited by individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Stereotypy can interfere with academic engagement and become a major barrier to appropriate education and social development of individuals with ASD. Studies have shown that antecedent physical exercise can produce reductions in stereotypy and positive collateral effects. The purpose of the current systematic review was to examine the collateral effects of antecedent physical exercise on stereotypy and engagement in nonstereotypic behaviors. The findings suggest that individuals with ASD can benefit from incorporating antecedent physical exercise with regard to stereotypy and other positive collateral behaviors. Implications of the results and areas for further research are discussed.

Improving Juvenile Justice Settings by Decreasing Coercion: One Lab's Perspectives from Behind the Fence

In this article, we outline an emerging role for applied behavior analysis in juvenile justice by summarizing recent publications from our lab and discussing our procedures through the lens of coercion proposed by Goltz (2020). In particular, we focus on individual and group interventions that target a range of behaviors emitted by adolescents in a residential treatment facility. In general, individual interventions involve teaching adolescents to (1) respond appropriately to staff, (2) tolerate nonpreferred environmental conditions, and (3) control problematic sexual arousal. Likewise, group interventions involve low-effort manipulations that decrease disruptive behavior and increase appropriate behavior in settings with numerous adolescents. Thereafter, we describe behavioral interventions for staff working in juvenile justice. These staff-focused interventions aim to increase staff-initiated, positive interactions with students in order to change subsequent student behavior. In addition, we review our recent endeavors to assess and conceptualize other service providers' behavioral products (i.e., prescription practices) in a juvenile facility. Lastly, we discuss future directions of behavior-analytic intervention with juvenile-justice involved adolescents.

A retrospective analysis of stereotypy: Applicability of the behavioral subtyping model

Recent research on automatically reinforced self-injurious behavior (ASIB) has identified specific patterns of responding in functional analyses that correlate with intervention efficacy (Hagopian et al., 2015; Hagopian et al., 2017). Whereas research by Hagopian et al. (2015, 2017) points to an important development in the assessment and treatment of ASIB, it is unclear if the applicability extends to automatically reinforced noninjurious behaviors, including stereotypy. Therefore, the current study replicated the methods of Hagopian et al. (2017), extending this research to published cases of stereotypy and related behavior. The behavioral subtype for each case was identified, and where applicable, the subtype was compared to intervention outcome data. The categorization of data sets as either Subtype 1 or Subtype 2 did not correspond with specific treatment outcomes. Unlike the results of Hagopian et al. (2015, 2017), reinforcement-based interventions were not more likely to be effective for Subtype 1 stereotypy than for Subtype 2 stereotypy.

A comparison of differential reinforcement procedures for treating automatically reinforced behavior

Children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit stereotypy, which can be socially stigmatizing, interfere with daily living skills, and affect skill acquisition. We compared differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) and differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) when neither procedure included response blocking or interruption for (a) reducing stereotypy, (b) increasing task engagement, and (c) increasing task completion. DRA contingencies yielded superior outcomes across each measure when evaluated with 3 individuals with autism spectrum disorder.

Using a Multiple-Schedule Procedure to Signal the Availability of Attention: Three Demonstrations

Adjudicated adolescents detained in residential facilities for illegal sexual behavior, as well as adolescents living at home, may engage in problem behaviors such as excessive vocalizations. In residential detention facilities, these excessive vocalizations may result in disciplinary action and loss of privileges. Moreover, excessive vocalizations may also reduce the amount of positive social interactions that staff members and caregivers have with the adolescents. The current study evaluated a multiple-schedule procedure for reducing excessive vocalizations displayed by three adolescents. The procedure involved (a) a red card to signal that attention was not available and (b) either a green card or no card to signal that attention was available. Results show that the participants learned to abstain from vocalizing for up to 30 min when a caregiver presented the red card. In addition, the treatment effects persisted during generalization assessment sessions.

Multiple schedules, off-baseline reinforcement shifts, and resistance to extinction

Resistance to extinction in a target multiple-schedule component varies inversely with the rate of reinforcement arranged in an alternative component during baseline. The present experiment asked whether changing the reinforcer rate in an alternative component would impact extinction of target component responding if those changes occurred in an off-baseline phase during which the target component was never experienced. Pigeons' key pecking was studied in three types of conditions, and each condition consisted of three phases. In Phase 1, pecking produced food in the target and alternative components of a multiple schedule according to variable-interval 60-s schedules. In Phase 2, the alternative-component stimulus was presented alone in a single schedule. Pecking during this phase produced the same reinforcer rate as in baseline in the Control condition, a higher rate of food (variable-interval 15 s) in the High-Rate condition, or was extinguished in the Extinction condition. Extinction of target- and alternative-component key pecking then was assessed in a multiple schedule during the final phase of each condition. Resistance to extinction of target-component key pecking was the same between the Control and High-Rate conditions but lower in the Extinction condition. These findings are discussed in terms of discrimination and generalization processes.