Placing infants in a prone position for "tummy time" often is recommended to ensure appropriate infant development and to combat the effects associated with infants spending extended periods of time in a supine position. However, tummy time may be associated with inappropriate infant behavior such as crying and noncompliance. We provided…

Sleep problems are a common occurrence among children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In addition to the adverse effects that sleep problems present for children's neurodevelopment, learning, and daytime behaviors, these sleep problems also present significant challenges for the entire family. This article outlines the results of a…

Stimuli associated with primary reinforcers appear themselves to acquire the capacity to strengthen behavior. This paper reviews research on the strengthening effects of conditioned reinforcers within the context of contemporary quantitative choice theories and behavioral momentum theory. Based partially on the finding that variations in…

The effects of noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) schedules on responding were assessed across two parameters: presence of signal and schedule density. Results indicated that signaled NCR schedules were correlated with greater overall reductions in responding and quicker reductions relative to NCR schedules without a signal. The clinical…

This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of a simplified habit reversal procedure (SHR) using differential reinforcement of incompatible behaviour (DRI) and a stimulus prompt (GaitSpot Auditory Squeakers) to reduce the frequency of idiopathic toe-walking (ITW) and increase the frequency of correct heel-to-toe-walking in three children with…

A popular-press self-help manual is reviewed with an eye toward two issues. First, the popularity of such books documents the existence of considerable demand for technologies that address the everyday problems (in the present case, troublesome conversations) of nondisordered individuals. Second, many ideas invoked in popular-press books may be…

Providing effective interventions for individuals with severe intellectual disabilities (ID) continues to challenge educators, speech-language pathologists, and other allied health professionals. This article reviews recommended intervention practices that have emerged over the past 30 years and illustrates their use through an evidenced-based…

Top-ranked items were identified during 30-min free-operant preference assessments for 9 individuals. Data from each session were analyzed to identify the item (a) that was engaged with first in each session and (b) to which the most responding was allocated after 5 min, 10 min, 15 min, 20 min, and 25 min had elapsed in each session. The results…

Recent research has focused on the variables associated with equivalence-equivalence responding, in which participants match pairs of equivalent or nonequivalent stimuli. One such variable is the presence of response competition from nonarbitrary (physical) relational response options. In the current analysis, the experimenters examined the effect…

Reinforcers contingent on response variability exert powerful and precise control over levels of variability, from stereotypy to stochasticity. This paper reviews how variability-contingent reinforcers interact with non-contingent, eliciting events to influence the variability of operant responses. Relationships to stimulus control, choice,…

The effects of a pica exchange procedure were evaluated on the pica of a female with severe mental retardation. A BAB design revealed that the pica exchange procedure was effective at reducing the occurrence of pica. In addition, the pica exchange procedure was effective throughout six increasingly more difficult response effort conditions.…

This study aimed to examine the use of a predictive stimulus (Time Timer[TM]) and delayed reinforcement to increase appropriate waiting behavior in a child with developmental disabilities and problem behavior maintained by access to tangible items and activities. The study employed a changing criterion design across settings to gradually increase…

A preliminary evaluation of the correspondence between functional analysis outcomes across settings was conducted with 2 children who had been diagnosed with autism and who engaged in challenging behavior. Differences across settings (a therapy room and a classroom) were demonstrated in ABAB reversal designs. Three potential patterns of results…

The present experiment compared the effects of a food-based conditioned inhibitor on food seeking vs. cocaine seeking behavior. In two groups of rats, the A+/AB- Pavlovian conditioned inhibition procedure was used to create a conditioned inhibitor for food. Then, for one group of rats (Food-Food Group), a click stimulus was established as an…

This article reviews evidence from basic and translational research with pigeons and humans suggesting that the persistence of operant behavior depends on the contingency between stimuli and reinforcers, and considers some implications for clinical interventions. (Contains 4 figures.)