The delivery of food contingent on 10 s of consecutive toy engagement resulted in a decrease in engagement and a corresponding increase in other responses that had been previously reinforced with food. Similar effects were not observed when tokens exchangeable for the same food were delivered, suggesting that engagement was disrupted by the…

This case study presents a 9-year-old boy who exhibited severe stereotypic self-injurious behavior. An escalating differential-reinforcement-of-other-behavior schedule, mediated through token reinforcement, eliminated self-injurious behavior quickly for up to 30-minute periods, and was more effective than social reinforcement. Crying behavior…

Potential hazards and dangers of using the token economy approach to behavior change with head injured individuals are identified and it is suggested that the injured person's active awareness of reinforcement contingencies may sometimes be deleterious. (DB)