Christina Fragale

The effects of an abolishing operation intervention component on play skills, challenging behavior, and stereotypy.

The purpose of this study was to reduce stereotypy and challenging behavior during play skills instruction by adding an abolishing operation component (AOC) to the intervention strategy. An alternating treatments design compared one condition in which participants were allowed to engage in stereotypy freely before beginning the play skills intervention (AOC condition) to a second condition without this free access period (No AOC condition). Across 4 participants with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), levels of stereotypy and challenging behavior were lower and functional play was higher during play intervention sessions that followed the AOC. These data provided support for the inclusion of an AOC in interventions aimed at increasing the play skills of children with ASD who present with stereotypy.

Ethnicity Reporting Practices for Empirical Research in Three Autism-Related Journals.

This review examines ethnicity reporting in three autism-related journals (Autism, Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, and Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders) over a 6-year period. A comprehensive multistep search of articles is used to identify ethnicity as a demographic variable in these three journals. Articles that identified research participants’ ethnicity were further analyzed to determine the impact of ethnicity as a demographic variable on findings of each study. The results indicate that ethnicity has not been adequately reported in these three autism related journals even though previous recommendations have been made to improve inadequacies of descriptive information of research participants in autism research (Kistner and Robbins in J Autism Dev Disord 16:77–82, 1986). Implications for the field of autism spectrum disorders are discussed in addition to further recommendations for future research.

Further Evaluations of Functional Communication Training and Chained Schedules of Reinforcement to Treat Multiple Functions of Challenging Behavior

We evaluated functional communication training (FCT) combined with a chained schedule of reinforcement procedure for the treatment of challenging behavior exhibited by two individuals diagnosed with Asperger syndrome and autism. Following functional analyses that suggested that challenging behavior served multiple functions for both participants, we implemented FCT in which mands for a discriminative stimulus (SD; wristband) were reinforced with access to the SD and all three functional reinforcers. Next, we modified the procedure by incorporating delays to increase ease of implementation and promote toleration of delays to reinforcement. Last, we made additional modifications to the procedure by incorporating a chained schedule of reinforcement such that (a) mands for the wristband were reinforced with access to the wristband and (b) specific mands for respective functional reinforcers were reinforced in the presence of the wristband. The results showed that the procedure successfully treated challenging behavior with multiple functions. Future directions in the evaluation and development of treatments that simultaneously address multiple functions are discussed.

EFFECTS OF A MOTIVATING OPERATION MANIPULATION ON THE MAINTENANCE OF MANDS

We assessed the maintenance of newly acquired mands under presession reinforcer access (reinforcer efficacy abolished) and no presession reinforcer access (reinforcer efficacy established) conditions with 3 children with autism spectrum disorder. Results suggested that the no presession access condition established the value of the reinforcer and evoked responding relative to the presession access condition. Results are discussed in the context of implications for assessing maintenance of previously acquired skills.

THE INFLUENCE OF MOTIVATING OPERATIONS ON GENERALIZATION PROBES OF SPECIFIC MANDS BY CHILDREN WITH AUTISM

We investigated the influence of motivating operations on the generalization of newly taught mands across settings and communication partners for 3 children with autism. Two conditions were implemented prior to generalization probes. In the first condition, participants were given access to a preferred item until they rejected the item (i.e., abolishing operation). In the second condition, the item was not available to participants prior to generalization probes (i.e., establishing operation). The effects of these conditions on the generalization of newly taught mands were evaluated in a multielement design. Results indicated differentiated responding during generalization probes in which more manding with the target mand was observed following the presession no-access condition than in the presession access condition. These results support the consideration of motivating operations when assessing generalization of target mands to various untrained contexts.

Evaluation of the Rate of Problem Behavior Maintained by Different Reinforcers across Preference Assessments.

The rates of problem behavior maintained by different reinforcers were evaluated across 3 preference assessment formats (i.e., paired stimulus, multiple-stimulus without replacement, and free operant). The experimenter administered each assessment format 5 times in a random order for 7 children with developmental disabilities whose problem behavior was maintained by attention, tangible items, or escape. Results demonstrated different effects related to the occurrence of problem behavior, suggesting an interaction between function of problem behavior and assessment format. Implications for practitioners are discussed with respect to assessing preferences of individuals with developmental disabilities who exhibit problem behavior.

Examination of an antecedent communication intervention to reduce tangibly maintained challenging behavior: A controlled analog analysis

We examined the influence of an antecedent communication intervention on challenging behavior for three students with developmental disorders. Students were taught to request tangible items that were identified as reinforcers for challenging behavior in a prior functional analysis. Individual participant multielement and reversal designs were used to compare the effects of the antecedent communication intervention versus a no antecedent communication intervention condition. Immediately following the antecedent manipulations students were exposed to the tangible condition of the functional analysis. Results indicate that the antecedent communication intervention reduced challenging behavior in the subsequent tangible test condition for all three students. The importance of examining antecedent interventions to treat challenging behavior from a function analytic perspective is discussed.

Preference for language of instruction of an English language learner with autism

Abstract Objective: To use a preference assessment to identify the preferred language of instruction (English or Spanish) for a child with autism living in a Spanish-speaking home and receiving school services in English only. Methods: We used a concurrent chains method to evaluate the participant’s preference for English or Spanish instruction. Colored microswitches represented English instruction, Spanish instruction and no instruction (control). Switch presses resulted in instruction and reinforcement in either English or Spanish, or no instruction and no reinforcement. After session 10, switches were reprogrammed to control for color bias. Results: The participant chose Spanish instruction most frequently. Conclusions: The participant preferred to receive instruction in Spanish. These data support previous research indicating the importance of child preference when individualizing educational programs for children with autism and that language of instruction is an important variable when working with children with autism who experience multiple languages across home and school.

Promising results for the use of natural stimuli in a multiple schedule reinforcement arrangement to reduce problem behavior and increase functional communication

This review provides a summary and appraisal commentary on the treatment review by Kuhn, D. E., Chirighin, A. E., & Zelenka, K. (2010). Discriminated functional communication: A procedural extension of functional communication training. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 43, 249–264. 2 Source of funding and disclosure of interest: No source of funding reported, and the original authors of this research report no conflicts of interest.

Evaluation of functional communication training as a satiation procedure to reduce challenging behavior in instructional environments for children with autism

Objectives: For individuals with challenging behavior, antecedent interventions such as modifying the motivation for the behavior have shown to be effective. In this study, we examined the effects of giving the participants the opportunity to continuously request tangible items (e.g. toys and activities) prior to instruction to determine if allowing them to satiate on the item would serve as an effective intervention to reduce challenging behavior maintained by access to the items. Method: Functional analyses identified that access to tangible items maintained the challenging behavior of four children with autism spectrum disorder. The children were then trained using Functional Communication Training (FCT) to request the items. Prior to 15 mins academic and/or functional skill instructional sessions, participants were exposed to either an FCT session and allowed to request the tangible items or did not receive an FCT session. The no FCT condition consisted of the child’s typically scheduled activities, without access to the preferred items maintaining challenging behavior for at least one hour prior to instruction. Following the FCT or no FCT conditions, we measured challenging behavior and academic engagement during 15-mins sessions of one-on-one instruction. Results: When instruction was preceded with FCT as a satiation intervention, we observed lower levels of challenging behavior and higher levels of academic engagement compared to no FCT conditions for two of four participants. Conclusion: Overall, the results of this study appear to support the use of FCT as a viable satiation procedure to reduce challenging behavior in instructional settings.