ABSTRACT Individuals with developmental disabilities may be sensitive to a limited number of conditioned reinforcers. Stimulus‐stimulus pairing, a common strategy used to establish conditioned reinforcers, has demonstrated inconsistent results. Operant discrimination training involves conditioning reinforcers by presenting them as discriminative stimuli during operant conditioning. The effectiveness of establishing conditioned reinforcers using both methods was evaluated. Eight consecutively admitted individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities participated in the study. While both methods produced stimuli that induced above‐baseline levels of responding, only four participants demonstrated moderate‐to‐high treatment effects, and no relative advantage could be established for either procedure.
ABSTRACT Stimulus preference assessments have been shown to identify stimuli that are likely to function as reinforcers for individuals with disabilities. It is important to identify these stimuli to increase the effectiveness of interventions. The ability to conduct a stimulus preference assessment is a skill that caregivers should have; however, the research on training preference assessments is limited to staff, teachers, and students. The following study evaluated the effectiveness of video modeling to teach caregivers to conduct paired stimulus preference assessments. The results showed that video modeling was effective and that the results were maintained during a 1‐week follow‐up.
ABSTRACT Social media use is widespread among young adults, with many individuals frequently engaging with platforms that provide immediate access to entertainment, social interaction, and personalized content. Social media detoxification broadly refers to planned reductions, interruptions, or temporary restrictions in social media use. Few studies have experimentally evaluated the effects of specific access‐restriction strategies on social media use. The present study evaluated a brief access‐restriction intervention with five college students using a multiple‐baseline design. Access to each participant's two most frequently used social media applications was restricted using a mobile application that arranged time limits and brief delays to access, signaled by prompts. The primary dependent variable was the daily duration of use of the two targeted applications, measured via Screen Time reports generated by participants' phones. Results were mixed. Two participants demonstrated reductions in use, whereas the remaining participants showed minimal change or increases. These findings suggest that access restrictions alone may have limited effectiveness.
ABSTRACT The intervention consisted of a multi‐component synergetic learning (antecedent instruction, imitation and modeling, prompting and fading, and reinforcement) integrating with perceptual motor activities (motor planning, body awareness, and balance). The intervention was provided by a trained therapist during 30‐ to 45‐min sessions, 5 days a week during school, over 12 weeks, to indirectly decrease stereotypic motor behaviors in five Pakistani children with autism spectrum disorder. Researchers collected data on each form of motor stereotypy using 1‐min momentary time sampling during 30‐min observations with each participant across three phases (pre‐, mid‐, and post‐intervention) and thereafter statistically compared data from the pre‐ and post‐intervention phases. Results of a Wilcoxon signed‐rank test indicate that participants' engagement in motor stereotypy was significantly lower during the post‐intervention phase than during the pre‐intervention phase. Specifically, participants' motor stereotypy decreased from an average of 29% of intervals during pre‐intervention observations to an average of 13% of intervals during the post‐intervention. We discuss limitations of the findings and possible conceptualizations of the behavior changes.
ABSTRACT Research on behavioral feeding interventions for adults with developmental disorders is limited. We applied differential reinforcement of high rates (DRH) in combination with contingency‐specifying rules to increase the eating rate of a young adult. The DRH component used gradually changing time criteria, with reinforcement contingent on meeting these criteria across separate treatment phases. A token economy signaled reinforcement and thinned the reinforcement schedule. Eating rate and meal duration were measured in both home and clinic settings. Experimental control was demonstrated using a changing‐criterion design with baseline probes. Results showed a considerable increase in eating rate and a reduction in meal duration, maintained at 2‐ and 5‐month follow‐ups. Participant and family involvement emphasized assent, choice, and trauma‐sensitive care. Social validity measures indicated favorable treatment ratings by the participant.
