Conditioned reinforcers are widely used in applied behavior analysis. Basic research evidence reveals that Pavlovian learning plays an important role in the acquisition and efficacy of new conditioned-reinforcer functions. Thus, a better understanding of Pavlovian principles holds the promise of improving the efficacy of conditioned reinforcement…

Behavioral readiness can take the form of communication and self-control skills during challenging situations that are correlated with the development of problem behavior. A skill-based approach can teach behavioral readiness using procedures that involve synthesized reinforcement, probabilistic reinforcement, and contingency-based delays;…

Some children make impulsive choices (i.e., choose a small but immediate reinforcer over a large but delayed reinforcer). Previous research has shown that delay fading, providing an alternative activity during the delay, teaching participants to repeat a rule during the delay, combining delay fading with an alternative activity, and combining…

This study examined the effectiveness of using qualitatively different reinforcers to teach self-control to an adolescent boy who had been diagnosed with an intellectual disability. First, he was instructed to engage in an activity without programmed reinforcement. Next, he was instructed to engage in the activity under a two-choice fixed-duration…

We evaluated the effects of the preschool life skills program (PLS; Hanley, Heal, Tiger, & Ingvarsson, 2007) on the acquisition and maintenance of functional communication and self-control skills, as well as its effect on problem behavior, of small groups of preschoolers at risk for school failure. Six children were taught to request teacher…

Three adolescents with traumatic brain injury performed a physical therapy task in the absence of programmed consequences or duration requirements. Next, the experimenter gave the participants the options of a smaller immediate reinforcer with no response requirement or a larger delayed reinforcer with a response requirement. Self-control training…

Typical assessments of temporal discounting involve presenting choices between hypothetical monetary outcomes. Participants choose between smaller immediate rewards and larger delayed rewards to determine how the passage of time affects the subjective value of reinforcement. Few studies, however, have compared such discounting to actual…

The current investigation assessed the effectiveness of protective equipment, specifically arm splints, in reducing the occurrence of severe self-injurious behavior (SIB). Although the protective equipment reduced rates of SIB to near-zero levels, self-restraint subsequently emerged. In an attempt to reduce self-restraint while maintaining…

A manual to teach parents how to help their six children (3-11 years old) overcome fear of the dark included desensitization, reinforcemnt, and verbal self-control statements. Data indicated that all children were sleeping all night with the rheostat set at criterion level or lower within two weeks after initiation of treatment. (Author/CL)

Manipulation of mechanical restraint properties were conducted in separate studies with two profoundly retarded adolescents who exhibited both self-restraint and self-injurious behavior. Techniques included prompting, differential reinforcement, and stimulus fading. Results suggested that stimulus fading and transfer may be valuable components in…

This study examined effects of providing attention (the presumed reinforcer) both noncontingently and contingent upon either self-injurious behavior or self-restraint with a 12-year-old female with multiple disabilities including profound mental retardation. Results were consistent with the hypothesis that both responses were maintained by…

The first of two studies with two adolescent students with serious emotional disturbances examined the interaction between unequal rates of reinforcement and equal versus unequal delays to reinforcer access on performance of math problems. The second study examined the interactive effects of reinforcer rate, quality, and delay. (Author/DB)

Discussion of the functional relationship between self-injurious behavior (SIB) and self-restraint in people with severe disabilities considers SIB and self-restraint as members of the same functional response class, SIB and self-restraint as functionally independent responses, access to self-restraint as positive reinforcement of SIB, termination…

A study evaluated teaching a technique for self-control to three adults with developmental disabilities. Concurrent fixed-duration/progressive-duration reinforcement schedules were introduced in which both smaller and larger reinforcers were available immediately. When progressively increasing delays were introduced for the larger reinforcer,…

A self-evaluation program was implemented at home with a disruptive boy (five years, 11 months old). The self-evaluation procedures typically resulted in increased compliant behavior and decreased inappropriate verbal behavior, although the effects generally weakened with time. (Author/SEW)