Carrie S. W. Borrero

Descriptive Analyses of Pediatric Food Refusal and Acceptance.

Functional analyses of inappropriate mealtime behavior typically include conditions to determine if the contingent delivery of attention, tangible items, or escape reinforce food refusal. In the current investigation, descriptive analyses were conducted for 25 children who had been admitted to a program for the assessment and treatment of food refusal to determine if the consequences commonly delivered during functional analyses were observed during parent-conducted meals. The conditional probabilities for the delivery of attention, tangible items, and escape following food refusal and acceptance were compared to the unconditional probabilities of each event. Results showed that attention and escape most frequently followed refusal and differed depending on the topography of refusal. Implications for further evaluations of food refusal using similar methods are discussed.

Concurrent reinforcement schedules for problem behavior and appropriate behavior: experimental applications of the matching law.

This study evaluated how children who exhibited functionally equivalent problem and appropriate behavior allocate responding to experimentally arranged reinforcer rates. Relative reinforcer rates were arranged on concurrent variable-interval schedules and effects on relative response rates were interpreted using the generalized matching equation. Results showed that relative rates of responding approximated relative rates of reinforcement. Finally, interventions for problem behavior were evaluated and differential reinforcement of alternative behavior and extinction procedures were implemented to increase appropriate behavior and decrease problem behavior. Practical considerations for the application of the generalized matching equation specific to severe problem behavior are discussed, including difficulties associated with defining a reinforced response, and obtaining steady state responding in clinical settings.

ANALYSES OF RESPONSE-STIMULUS SEQUENCES IN DESCRIPTIVE OBSERVATIONS

Descriptive observations were conducted to record problem behavior displayed by participants and to record antecedents and consequences delivered by caregivers. Next, functional analyses were conducted to identify reinforcers for problem behavior. Then, using data from the descriptive observations, lag-sequential analyses were conducted to examine changes in the probability of environmental events across time in relation to occurrences of problem behavior. The results of the lag-sequential analyses were interpreted in light of the results of functional analyses. Results suggested that events identified as reinforcers in a functional analysis followed behavior in idiosyncratic ways: after a range of delays and frequencies. Thus, it is possible that naturally occurring reinforcement contingencies are arranged in ways different from those typically evaluated in applied research. Further, these complex response-stimulus relations can be represented by lag-sequential analyses. However, limitations to the lag-sequential analysis are evident.

Descriptive Analyses of Pediatric Food Refusal: The Structure of Parental Attention

Mealtime observations were conducted and occurrences of appropriate and inappropriate mealtime behavior and various forms of parental attention (e.g., coaxing, reprimands) were recorded for 25 children admitted to an intensive feeding program and their parents. Using the data from the observations, lag sequential analyses were conducted to identify changes in the probability of child appropriate and inappropriate mealtime behavior before and after various forms of parental attention. A combination of univariate and repeated measures ANOVAs using frequency of child behavior were also conducted to corroborate conclusions drawn from the visual analysis of individual participant data. Results showed that parental attention was frequently followed by temporary decreases in inappropriate mealtime behavior and increases in bite acceptance. Moreover, various forms of parental attention resulted in statistically significant changes in child behavior, which supports the clinical utility of these data.

Behavioral Assessment of Self-Injury

This is an update of a chapter from a prior version of this volume (Matson, 2009). Self-injurious behavior (SIB) is a behavior disorder that can range in severity from self-inflicted mild bruising and abrasions to life-threatening tissue damage (Carr Psychol Bull 84:800–816, 1977). The focus of this chapter is on SIB displayed by individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), including autism. Although SIB occurs in psychiatric patients (e.g., self-mutilation) and in some otherwise typically developing adolescents and adults (e.g., self-cutting), these variations of SIB will not be the focus here. In addition, this chapter will focus on assessment rather than treatment. Finally, the specific focus is behavioral assessment rather than medical, biological, or psychiatric (diagnostic) assessment.

Characterizing Response-Reinforcer Relations in the Natural Environment: Exploratory Matching Analyses.

We assessed problem and appropriate behavior in the natural environment from a matching perspective. Problem and appropriate behavior were conceptualized as concurrently available responses, the occurrence of which was thought to be determined by the relative rates or durations of reinforcement. We also assessed whether response allocation could be accounted for by relative rates or durations of an event not shown to reinforce problem behavior. The effects of the temporal proximity between a response and stimulus and the unit of repeated observations were examined. Results highlighted potentially important reinforcement parameters (e.g., duration) and the time frame in which reinforcement effects might be expected to occur. Although findings are reported for only 1 participant, the purpose of the current study was to assess methodological features of characterizing response-reinforcer relations in the natural environment.