Multiple schedules of reinforcement have been used to teach children to recruit attention only when it is available, thereby minimizing disruptive requesting during instructional activities. This procedure involves alternating periods of continuous reinforcement (CRF) with periods of extinction and correlating each period with a distinct and…

Three functional assessments of a client with self-injurious behavior (SIB), indicated that SIB was sensitive to attention as reinforcement and was much higher when the client was in his wheelchair. Levels of SIB remained higher when the client was in his wheelchair, even when consequences for SIB were identical. (Author/CR)

A study of an adolescent with severe mental retardation, who demonstrated self-injurious behavior (SIB) when given attention, evaluated the extent to which providing attention only to appropriate communication would reduce SIB. The client's SIB was reduced significantly only when the therapist left the room when he engaged in SIB. (CR)

The initial purpose of the present study was to replicate procedures for teaching preschool children to recruit attention at appropriate times by having an experimenter signal the availability and unavailability of attention (i.e., arrange a multiple schedule involving reinforcement and extinction; Tiger & Hanley, 2004). Following the development…