Investigation of the reinforcing properties of vestibular stimulation with five multiply disabled severely retarded young children indicated that vestibular stimulation (10 seconds of swinging) was reinforcing to all subjects and was preferred (over food, praise, visual, and auditory stimulation) by four of the five children. (Author/DB)

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a brief, 2-minute pre-session stimulus preference assessment in predicting the levels of responding of four students (ages 6-9) with profound multiple disabilities. Use of the identified preferred stimulus resulted in higher levels of student responding during the instructional condition across all four…

Four experiments involving 18 individuals (ages 14-55) with profound multiple handicaps found that 12 stimuli used in a preference assessment represented a comprehensive stimulus set for identifying preferences, though the utility of the set could sometimes be enhanced by caregiver opinion. Results also indicated that preferences identified were…

This study found that, compared to measuring approach behaviors to a variety of stimuli, a forced-choice stimulus preference assessment used with four young children with severe mental retardation resulted in greater differentiation among stimuli and better predicted which stimuli would result in higher levels of responding when presented…

A choice assessment was used to categorize reinforcers as high, middle, and low preference with 4 males (ages 7 to 19) with multiple disabilities including severe/profound mental retardation. High-preference stimuli consistently functioned as reinforcers for all subjects whereas low-preference stimuli did not function as reinforcers. (Author/DB)

Obscene verbalizations in an individual with traumatic brain injury were treated using stimulus fading as the singular form of intervention. Results of a functional assessment revealed the obscenity was maintained by negative reinforcement. Stimulus fading (the gradual reintroduction of instructional demands) produced immediate and substantial…

This study compared three methods of stimulus preference assessment for four verbal children (ages six to nine) with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, specifically evaluating the utility of a verbal choice procedure for assessing relative reinforcer value. Verbal and pictorial stimulus-choice assessments identified high- and low-preference…

Data are summarized from 152 single-subject analyses of the reinforcing functions of self-injurious behavior (SIB) in individuals with developmental disabilities. Overall results indicated that functional analysis methodologies are extremely effective in identifying the environmental determinants of SIB on an individual basis and, subsequently, in…

Discusses the nature of control, examining how organisms as control systems sense or monitor the variable being controlled when responding to environmental changes. Argues that learning is the development of control in an attempt to fit the two phenomena central to traditional learning theory--conditioning and reinforcement--into the broader…

A comprehensive evidence-based treatment for substance abuse and other associated problems (Family Behavior Therapy) is described, including its application to both adolescents and adults across a wide range of clinical contexts (i.e., criminal justice, child welfare). Relevant to practitioners and applied clinical researchers, topic areas include…

Generalization across three stimulus parameters (therapist, setting, and demands) was examined for five men with severe/profound mental retardation whose self-injurious behavior was maintained by escape from task demands. Variables were held constant during the escape extinction treatment. Full or partial generalization to novel situations was…

A stimulus preference assessment was evaluated with an adult and a child with profound mental retardation and severe self-injurious behavior, in order to better predict both the beneficial and negative side effects of stimuli in differential-reinforcement-of-other-behavior treatments. (DB)

This study of 15 children with feeding disorders investigated identification of effective behavioral reinforcers by comparing outcomes and time requirements of two procedures in which presence in a particular area produced access to a preferred stimulus (i.e., zone discrimination). Both procedures were viable reinforcer identification tools, but…

Following inconclusive functional analyses of problem behaviors in 3 children (ages 3-4) with severe disabilities, interventions based on environmental enrichment were implemented. For all subjects, environmental enrichment decreased aberrant behavior if preferred stimuli were used. Explicit reinforcement of appropriate play behavior was required…

Three individuals with multiple severe disabilities were taught an appropriate response to problem behaviors, but the response was less efficient than the problem behavior on physical effort, schedule of reinforcement, or stimulus-reinforcer time delay. The response did not compete successfully with the problem behaviors until a new, more…