Demand fading involves the removal and gradual reintroduction of demands and has been shown to effectively reduce escape-maintained challenging behavior. However, it is currently unclear if there are common demand fading practices when demand fading is used as an initial intervention rather than as a method for schedule thinning after another…

In the context of problem behavior, treatment integrity refers to the extent to which a behavioral intervention is implemented as intended. Treatment-integrity errors may lead to relapse of problem behavior. For example, omitting reinforcers can lead to increases in problem behavior called resurgence. Researchers have previously described the…

This dissertation was designed to determine which behavior analytic intervention was more effective in the treatment and reduction of mouthing non-nutritive substances in children diagnosed with autism. This study included four participants in an A-B-A reversal design with a component analysis across four intervention phases. The study…

Previously applied research has shown independent manding is not likely to emerge when functional communication training (FCT) is implemented in conjunction with dense schedules of noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) but does emerge when it is implemented after NCR schedules have been leaned. One interpretation of these data may be that participants…

Although common among children learning to walk, persistent toe walking can cause physical harm due to inefficient gate, and, in some cases, result in negative social interactions such as teasing and bullying. In addition, although toe walking is often associated with a variety of neurological and developmental conditions, toe walking also occurs…

Functional communication training (FCT) reduces escape-maintained challenging behavior but can result in time away from instruction. Instructional time could be maintained if interventions incorporated academic interventions like curricular revision. We compared FCT with extinction to a curricular-revision treatment package involving antecedent…

Access to early intensive behavioral intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder is commonly recommended. Intervention programs may include high rates of instructional trials, which may evoke escape-maintained problem behavior. Recent research on "pairing" or "rapport-building" interventions have sought to reduce…

We compared rates of academic responses and problem behavior during mathematics with distributed and accumulated reinforcer arrangements for 3 students with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder who engaged in chronic, severe problem behavior. All 3 students engaged in more academic responding and less problem behavior when reinforcers…

Most verbal behavior curricula for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) focus on teaching multiple mands during the early stages of training (e.g., picture exchange communication system; Bondy & Frost, 1994). However, few, if any, of those curricula train children with ASD to differentially mand only for reinforcers that are reasonable…

Arranging periods in which requests for reinforcement are denied in a multiple schedule may result in increased destructive behavior during these periods for individuals who receive functional communication training (FCT) as treatment for severe destructive behavior. Providing access to competing activities during periods of reinforcer…

Maintenance and generalization have been inconsistently defined in the behavior analytic literature. The term "treatment relapse" is used commonly in the medical and mental health literature to refer to the return of a condition that was previously considered successfully treated. Basic behavioral researchers have studied relapse related…

Researchers, teachers, practitioners, and parents are often concerned with how to program for and achieve the maintenance of appropriate behavior. The unintended maintenance of problem behavior is less often evaluated. This article describes a behavioral phenomenon, resurgence, that may result in the unintended maintenance of problem behavior.…

The purpose of this study was to determine the relative efficacy of non-contingent reinforcement (NCR) and differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) after behavioral functions were identified through indirect, descriptive, and experimental assessment. Participants included three preschool-age children in three center-based classrooms in a…

A primary goal of behavioral interventions is to reduce dangerous or inappropriate behavior and to generalize treatment effects across various settings. However, there is a lack of research evaluating generalization of treatment effects while individuals with functionally equivalent problem behavior interact with each other. For the current study,…

In the current study, the differential effects of reinforcement on a self-monitoring intervention were evaluated. Three students nominated by their teachers for having a marked difficultly maintaining on-task behaviors participated in the study. Using an alternating treatments single-case design to assess self-monitoring with and without…