Patrick R. Progar

Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior Increases Resistance to Extinction: Clinical Demonstration, Animal Modeling, and Clinical Test of One Solution

Basic research with pigeons on behavioral momentum suggests that differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) can increase the resistance of target behavior to change. This finding suggests that clinical applications of DRA may inadvertently increase the persistence of target behavior even as it decreases its frequency. We conducted three coordinated experiments to test whether DRA has persistence-strengthening effects on clinically significant target behavior and then tested the effectiveness of a possible solution to this problem in both a nonhuman and clinical study. Experiment 1 compared resistance to extinction following baseline rates of reinforcement versus higher DRA rates of reinforcement in a clinical study. Resistance to extinction was substantially greater following DRA. Experiment 2 tested a rat model of a possible solution to this problem. Training an alternative response in a context without reinforcement of the target response circumvented the persistence-strengthening effects of DRA. Experiment 3 translated the rat model into a novel clinical application of DRA. Training an alternative response with DRA in a separate context resulted in lower resistance to extinction than employing DRA in the context correlated with reinforcement of target behavior. The value of coordinated bidirectional translational research is discussed.

Incorporating Video Feedback into Self-Management Training to Promote Generalization of Social Initiations by Children with Autism

Self-monitoring is a well-studied and widely used self-management skill in which a person observes and records his or her own behavior. Video feedback (VFB) occurs when an instructor videotapes a childs performances and reviews the footage with the child and potentially allows the child to score or evaluate their own behavior. A multiple-probe design across participants was used in the present study to evaluate the effects of self-monitoring during VFB on the frequency of social initiating for three students with autism who failed to exhibit the previously mastered skills upon entering a general education classroom. The frequency of initiating increased in general education settings when VFB was introduced. Data also indicated that initiating generalized across settings and people not previously associated with VFB and were maintained in the absence of VFB for two of three participants.

Response Interruption and Redirection for Vocal Stereotypy in Children with Autism: A Systematic Replication.

This study systematically replicated and extended previous research on response interruption and redirection (RIRD) by assessing instructed responses of a different topography than the target behavior, percentage of session spent in treatment, generalization of behavior reduction, and social validity of the intervention. Results showed that RIRD produced substantial decreases in vocal stereotypy. Limitations of this study were that behavior reduction did not generalize to novel settings or with novel instructors and that appropriate vocalizations did not improve.

EFFECTS OF THREE TYPES OF NONCONTINGENT AUDITORY STIMULATION ON VOCAL STEREOTYPY IN CHILDREN WITH AUTISM

We evaluated the effects of 3 types of noncontingent auditory stimulation (music, white noise, recordings of vocal stereotypy) on 2 children with autism who engaged in high rates of vocal stereotypy. For both participants, the music condition was the most effective in decreasing vocal stereotypy to near-zero levels, resulted in the highest parent social validity ratings, and was selected as most preferred in treatment preference evaluations.

The Persistence-Strengthening Effects of DRA: An Illustration of Bidirectional Translational Research.

We summarize a series of bidirectional research studies that demonstrate the persistence-strengthening effects of differential reinforcement of alternative behavior on problem behavior. We model a possible solution to this problem with rats followed by replication with a human clinical population. The importance of coordinated basic and applied research to stimulate new behavioral technologies is emphasized.