ABSTRACT
COVID-19 is a disease caused by the virus, SARS-CoV-2, and it can affect individuals differently. Some people may experience mild symptoms while others may experience severe illness or death. Vaccines that are authorized to protect against COVID-19 help the human body develop immunity to SARS-CoV-2 and reduce the risk of COVID-19 and its potentially serious complications. We evaluated the effects of graduated exposure and differential reinforcement to teach individuals with autism to comply with the administration of a COVID-19 vaccine. All three participants had a history of engaging in challenging behavior during previous vaccination procedures. Following the intervention, all participants successfully received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. The results of this study support previous research on graduated exposure and differential reinforcement as a treatment for increasing compliance with medical procedures for individuals with autism. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
Language skill components are often acquired naturally for typically developing children through maternal interactions;however, children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who have developmental delays often require additional teaching methods to guide the emergence of language skill components. Research shows the effects of stimulus-stimulus pairing (SSP) and operant discrimination training (ODT) as relevant treatment interventions in applied behavior analysis for vocalization increases. We knew that ODT and SSP will increase vocalizations, but we did not know which intervention (ODT or SSP) would increase vocalization approximations at a higher rate. Two male participants, an 8-year-old and a 6-year-old, were studied. Both were diagnosed with ASD and were non-verbal or pre-verbal with limited vocalizations. An alternating treatments design was used, and visual analysis was used to analyze the data. There were several limitations, some of which were attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic. When compared to baseline levels, ODT and SSP increased vocalizations for one participant. The other participant had limited vocalization increase across both ODT and SSP compared to baseline levels. ODT was also observed to increase vocalizations at a higher rate than SSP in one participant. It was concluded that future research is recommended to examine the effects of shaping using differential reinforcement on vocalization approximations using SSP and ODT and assess the generalization and maintenance of increased vocalizations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
COVID-19 is a disease caused by the virus, SARS-CoV-2, and it can affect individuals differently. Some people may experience mild symptoms while others may experience severe illness or death. Vaccines that are authorized to protect against COVID-19 help the human body develop immunity to SARS-CoV-2 and reduce the risk of COVID-19 and its potentially serious complications. We evaluated the effects of graduated exposure and differential reinforcement to teach individuals with autism to comply with the administration of a COVID-19 vaccine. All three participants had a history of engaging in challenging behavior during previous vaccination procedures. Following the intervention, all participants successfully received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. The results of this study support previous research on graduated exposure and differential reinforcement as a treatment for increasing compliance with medical procedures for individuals with autism. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
Language skill components are often acquired naturally for typically developing children through maternal interactions;however, children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who have developmental delays often require additional teaching methods to guide the emergence of language skill components. Research shows the effects of stimulus-stimulus pairing (SSP) and operant discrimination training (ODT) as relevant treatment interventions in applied behavior analysis for vocalization increases. We knew that ODT and SSP will increase vocalizations, but we did not know which intervention (ODT or SSP) would increase vocalization approximations at a higher rate. Two male participants, an 8-year-old and a 6-year-old, were studied. Both were diagnosed with ASD and were non-verbal or pre-verbal with limited vocalizations. An alternating treatments design was used, and visual analysis was used to analyze the data. There were several limitations, some of which were attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic. When compared to baseline levels, ODT and SSP increased vocalizations for one participant. The other participant had limited vocalization increase across both ODT and SSP compared to baseline levels. ODT was also observed to increase vocalizations at a higher rate than SSP in one participant. It was concluded that future research is recommended to examine the effects of shaping using differential reinforcement on vocalization approximations using SSP and ODT and assess the generalization and maintenance of increased vocalizations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
The current study taught 6 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to increase passive compliance of wearing a facemask across sequentially increasing durations of time. A changing-criterion design embedded within a nonconcurrent multiple baseline design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of a resetting differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) without escape extinction procedure on passive compliance. Terminal probe sessions determined DRO fading intervals. Results showed that 2 participants acquired mastery level passive compliance (30 min) without fading during the initial baseline sessions. The remaining 4 participants acquired mastery level passive compliance following fading intervals within the DRO intervention. Participants' passive compliance generalized across 2 novel settings. This study replicates previous studies and extends empirical support for the use of DRO without escape extinction interventions for increasing passive compliance with medical devices in children with ASD.