A competing stimulus assessment is used to identify stimuli that are associated with a low level of challenging behavior and a high level of engagement. These stimuli are often used as a treatment component for challenging behavior that is maintained by automatic reinforcement. One limitation of implementing competing stimulus assessments is that…

Despite its advantages, discrete-trial instruction (DTI) has been criticized for producing rote responding. Although there is little research supporting this claim, if true, this may be problematic given the propensity of children with autism to engage in restricted and repetitive behavior. One feature that is common in DTI that may contribute to…

The current study extends the literature on task interspersal (TI) by comparing the effects of four different TI ratios on the efficiency of skill acquisition and on levels of problem behavior in children with autism spectrum disorder and related disorders. The four ratios of TI were 3:1, 1:1, 1:3, and 0:1 mastered-to-acquisition tasks. An adapted…

The Good Behavior Game (GBG) is an effective intervention to reduce disruptive behavior. The GBG typically involves immediate stimulus presentation (e.g., delivery of a token) following disruptions; however, experimenters have also removed tokens contingent upon disruptions. In the present study, we compared the effects of the GBG-stimulus…

Despite the effectiveness and widespread use of functional communication training (FCT), resurgence of destructive behavior can occur if the functional communication response (FCR) contacts a challenge, such as lapses in treatment integrity. We evaluated a method to mitigate resurgence by conducting FCT using a multiple schedule of reinforcement…

Each day, people encounter stimuli they find unpleasant. Some children with autism may require systematic instruction to acquire the communication skills necessary to request the termination of such aversive stimuli. We taught 2 school-aged boys with autism a mand (e.g., signing "stop") that could be used to escape a variety of aversive…

Angelman syndrome is a neurogenetic disorder characterized by intellectual and developmental disability. Common behavioral characteristics of this disorder include a heightened interest in social interactions and frequent bids to initiate interaction. These bids can be problematic, for instance, when a child attempts to hug strangers in public…

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…

After a 3-step guided compliance procedure (vocal prompt, vocal plus model prompt, vocal prompt plus physical guidance) did not increase compliance, we evaluated 2 modifications with 4 preschool children who exhibited noncompliance. The first modification consisted of omission of the model prompt, and the second modification consisted of omitting…

The effect of a fixed-time (FT) schedule involving the delivery of preferred stimuli prior to the issuance of a low-probability instruction was evaluated with 2 young children with autism. The FT schedule was introduced according to a reversal design with 3 target instructions, 1 for the first child and 2 for the second child. Compliance increased…

This study examined how the amount of effort required to produce a reinforcer influenced subsequent preference for, and strength of, that reinforcer in 7 individuals with intellectual disabilities. Preference assessments identified four moderately preferred stimuli for each participant, and progressive-ratio (PR) analyses indexed reinforcer…

Competing stimulus assessments (CSA) have been used to identify stimuli that are associated with reduced levels of problem behavior, presumably as a function of reinforcer competition. Following a standard CSA in which stimuli simply were made available, 2 more CSAs were conducted with additional components designed to enhance reinforcer…

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…

We manipulated relative reinforcement for problem behavior and appropriate behavior using differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) without an extinction component. Seven children with developmental disabilities participated. We manipulated duration (Experiment 1), quality (Experiment 2), delay (Experiment 3), or a combination of…

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…