John Ward-Horner

COMPONENT ANALYSES USING SINGLE-SUBJECT EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS: A REVIEW

A component analysis is a systematic assessment of 2 or more independent variables or components that comprise a treatment package. Component analyses are important for the analysis of behavior; however, previous research provides only cursory descriptions of the topic. Therefore, in this review the definition of component analysis is discussed, and a notation system for evaluating the experimental designs of component analyses is described. Thirty articles that included a component analysis were identified via a literature search. The majority of the studies successfully identified a necessary component; however, most of these studies did not evaluate the sufficiency of the necessary component. The notation system may be helpful in developing experimental designs that best suit the purpose of studies aimed at conducting component analyses of treatment packages.

Assessment of Challenging Behaviors in People with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Publisher Summary Children and adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are at much greater risk of showing a wide range of challenging behavior (CB) than typically developing people. This chapter reviews various aspects of assessment of CB. These include the reasons for assessment, assessment of topographies, and assessment of function and its implications for treatment. Common problems including aggression, stereotypy, and eating problems in people with ASD are also reviewed. Of most immediate concern are extra-personal maladaptive behaviors, such as aggression and tantrums, because of their negative and sometimes severe consequences for the person and those around them. Intra-personal maladaptive behaviors may also be significant as they may be stigmatizing and may interfere with learning and the expression of adaptive behavior. There are many psychometric measures to assess CB topographies. They can be quick and efficient in the early stages of assessing CB, in screening larger populations, and in periodic screening of individuals, such as during admission to services and annual evaluations. The CB topographies can be readily assessed with screening questionnaires, but these questionnaires are limited in that they do not provide all the information necessary to design an effective intervention plan. Information regarding the establishing operations (Eos), discriminative stimuli, functionally equivalent adaptive and maladaptive behaviors, and contingencies maintaining the CB greatly improve the design of an effective treatment plan. Despite the efficacy of this approach to treatment of CB in people with ASD, certain problems, such as pica, remain more difficult to treat. Additionally, more research involving the dissemination of this technology to routine care providers and practitioners is needed.

Structural and Functional Approaches to Psychopathology and Case Formulation

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews the functional analytic approaches to case formulation and treatment for all the major categories of psychopathology. The chapter begins by contrasting structural and functional approaches to behavior, including psychopathology. Then the radical behaviorism is defined by contrasting it with nonbehavioral approaches as well as other forms of behaviorism, such as earlier methodological behaviorism and more current forms of behavior and cognitive behavioral therapy. Structuralism and functionalism are two distinct approaches taken towards many intellectual endeavors, including anthropology, sociology, literature, linguistics, and indeed psychology. They differ in the status given to observations and the aim of the intellectual project. Structuralism takes observations to be tokens of underlying hidden structures that cannot be directly observed, but rather are inferred from superficial observations. Functionalism places great emphasis on the role of environmental variables and the relationship of the observed phenomenon to the environment. Biological evolution is one of the most characteristic examples of functionalism, which is closely related to behaviorism.

Interventions to Treat Feeding Problems in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Comprehensive Review

Feeding problems in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are common and can be distressing for parents and other caregivers who are concerned that their children’s diets are nutritionally inadequate and who often face mealtime behavior problems. This chapter will (a) review the definition and epidemiology of common feeding problems found in children with ASD as well as the interventions to treat them; (b) examine feeding problems in terms of functional analyses, treatment components, and component analyses of treatment packages; (c) discuss the measurement of long-term treatment gains, parent training, generalization, inclusion of social validity measures, initial assessments, and measurement of corollary responses in the current intervention literature; and (d) suggest areas for future researchers.

The effects of work‐reinforcer schedules on performance and preference in students with autism

This study investigated performance under and preference for continuous and discontinuous work-reinforcer schedules in 3 students who had been diagnosed with autism. Under continuous schedules, participants completed all work and consumed all reinforcers in contiguous units. Under discontinuous schedules, work and reinforcer access were broken up into smaller units. During the alternating-schedules phase, session duration was shorter in the continuous schedule for 2 participants. During free choice, all 3 participants preferred the continuous work schedule.

Effects of reinforcer magnitude and distribution on preference for work schedules

When the overall magnitude of reinforcement is matched between 2 alternative work schedules, some students prefer to complete all of their work for continuous access to a reinforcer (continuous work) rather than distributed access to a reinforcer while they work (discontinuous work). We evaluated a students preference for continuous work by manipulating the overall magnitude of reinforcement associated with continuous work. Preference for continuous work persisted despite a 20% decrease in reinforcer magnitude; however, a 40% decrease in reinforcer magnitude produced a shift in preference to discontinuous work.

Advanced Concepts and Methods of Intervention in Behavioral Approaches to Psychopathology

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses various types of learning including rule-governed behavior, stimulus equivalence and derived relations, and several forms of complex behavior, such as modeling, chaining, and self-control. One form of antecedent control of operant behavior is known as rule-governed behavior. Rule-governed behavior is a form of verbal behavior in which a person states a rule which alters the future probability of other behavior and is hence a discriminative stimulus for some other behavior. A set of stimuli is said to be equivalent when it shows the four properties of reflexivity, symmetry, transitivity, and equivalence. In experimental studies stimulus equivalence is prototypically taught using matching to sample (MTS) training. In MTS training, several classes of stimuli are presented, often on a computer screen. The learning that takes place in stimulus equivalence training has several interesting features. First, many relationships that are not directly taught emerge. Further, relationships can be taught between existing equivalence classes that can establish new and even larger classes with many stimulus relationships.

Arranging response requirements and the distribution of reinforcers: A brief review of preference and performance outcomes

Recent research has demonstrated that some participants prefer to complete a larger series of responses in exchange for a longer duration of reinforcer access, rather than completing fewer tasks associated with smaller, but more frequent, reinforcer access. This review provides a summary of this line of research, examines variables contributing to participant preference and performance under different response-reinforcer arrangements, and discusses limitations and areas for future research.

Operant and respondent behavior.

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews two forms of learning that may underlie the conceptualization and treatment of psychopathology: respondent and operant behavior. Respondent behaviors are elicited by stimuli and apparently occur automatically in the presence of these stimuli. They are elicited by antecedent stimuli and are relatively insensitive to their consequences. Respondent behaviors serve an adaptive role for the organism by regulating its physiology or otherwise contributing to the safety of the organism. There are four variations of respondent conditioning, differing from each other in terms of the timing of the presentation of the neutral stimulus (NS) and the unconditioned stimulus (US): delay conditioning, trace conditioning, simultaneous conditioning, and backward conditioning. Operant behavior is defined as the “behavior that acts on the environment to produce an immediate consequence and, in turn, is strengthened by that consequence.” An operant response is not elicited by an antecedent stimulus; rather, operant conditioning relies on the reinforcing or punishing effects of a consequence to strengthen or weaken operant behavior. Operant behavior is sensitive to contingencies. It is controlled by many variables, including the schedule of reinforcement, the response effort required, the density of reinforcement available for the operant class of interest compared to other operant classes, and deprivation of the reinforcer that maintains the operant behavior.

Effects of Reinforcer Magnitude and Quality on Preference for Response-Reinforcer Arrangements in Young Children with Autism

The present study evaluated the effects of reinforcer magnitude and quality on preference for continuous and discontinuous arrangements. Two preschool children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) participated in the study. Both participants initially preferred a discontinuous arrangement when choice options included the same quality and magnitude reinforcers; however, magnitude and quality manipulations resulted in a change in preference for continuous arrangements.