Blocking is a frequent component of treatments for elopement. Unfortunately, blocking may not always be feasible because elopement often occurs when supervision is low or the behavior cannot be prevented. The present study evaluated the use of blocking in the treatment of elopement by using differential reinforcement of other behavior with and…

We treated a child with intestinal failure who consumed solids on a spoon but not liquids from a cup. We used spoon-to-cup fading, which consisted of taping a spoon to a cup and then gradually moving the bowl of the spoon closer to the edge of the cup. Spoon-to-cup fading was effective for increasing consumption of liquids from a cup. (Contains 2…

We examined the effects of three different presession conditions on tangibly maintained problem behavior for 2 students with autism, using individual-participant multielement designs. First, an analogue functional analysis demonstrated that problem behavior was maintained by access to tangible items. Next, topographies of item rejection were…

A limitation associated with communication-based interventions for problem behavior is the potential for requesting reinforcement at high rates. Multiple-schedule arrangements have been demonstrated to be effective for controlling rates of responding (Hanley, Iwata, & Thompson, 2001). In the current study, we extended previous research by teaching…

Previous research suggests that language-training procedures for children with autism might be enhanced following an assessment of conditions that evoke emerging verbal behavior. The present investigation examined a methodology to teach recognizable mands based on environmental variables known to evoke participants' idiosyncratic communicative…

We conducted descriptive observations of severe problem behavior for 2 individuals with autism to identify precursors to problem behavior. Several comparative probability analyses were conducted in addition to lag-sequential analyses using the descriptive data. Results of the descriptive analyses showed that the probability of the potential…

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…

The current study describes preschool teacher-child interactions during several commonly scheduled classroom activities in which teachers deliver instructions. An observation system was developed that incorporated measurement of evidence-based compliance strategies and included the types of instructions delivered (e.g., integral or deficient…

The purpose of this study was to examine the use of percentile schedules as a method of quantifying the shaping procedure in an educational setting. We compared duration of task engagement during baseline measurements for 4 students to duration of task engagement during a percentile schedule. As a secondary purpose, we examined the influence on…

We evaluated problem behavior exhibited by 6 individuals with developmental disabilities using the behavioral economic conceptualization of unit price. Descriptive observations were conducted during interactions between the participants and their primary care providers in a clinical laboratory, the participants' homes, or school. Data were…

Prior researchers have evaluated the efficacy of using the matching law to describe naturally occurring behavior-environment interactions. However, spurious matching could be obtained if the response and environmental event were correlated, even if the event did not reinforce the response. To assess the likelihood of obtaining spurious matching…