Parametric analysis of overcorrection duration effects. Is longer really better than shorter?

Positive practice overcorrection (PPOC) has long played a significant role in the behavioral treatment of serious self-stimulatory behavior. Three experiments comparing the effectiveness of 30-second, 2-minute, and 8-minute PPOC on reduction of stereotypic hand behavior of adults with severe to profound developmental disabilities were conducted to resolve inconsistencies in previously reported findings concerning the role of PPOC duration in response suppression. Experiment 1, which used an alternating treatments--multiple baseline design, suggested that the different durations were equally effective in reducing the stereotypic behaviors to near-zero levels. Experiment 2, which used a reversal design, supported the findings of Experiment 1. Experiment 3, which used a reversal design to test the shortest and longest durations, generally confirmed the results of the first two experiments. This study therefore failed to support the oft-claimed superiority of long-duration PPOC. The possible factors underlying these findings and their implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Cognitive-behavioral remediation of problem solving deficits in children with acquired brain injury.

The inability to problem solve can have a deleterious impact on a student's academic performance and social adjustment. Children with an acquired brain injury (ABI) are at risk for deficits in problem solving skills. This case study and series of multiple baseline experiments examined the effects of a multi-component cognitive-behavioral training program on the remediation of problem solving deficits in five children with ABI. Results indicated that the training program resulted in a substantial decrease in errors on a computerized problem solving task used to monitor problem solving performance during baseline and treatment. In addition, significant improvements were found on two of four standardized measures of problem solving abilities. Finally, students, parents and teaching staff reported a high degree of satisfaction with and generalization of the training program.

Age differences in the formation of equivalence classes.

In order to investigate the relationship between stimulus equivalence class formation and age differences, two groups of elderly (ages 62-81) and young (ages 19-22) adult men and women mastered a series of simple and conditional discriminations. Subsequently, they were administered a test for the emergence of equivalence relations. There was a significant age difference in the emergence of equivalence relations, with the elderly subjects less likely to demonstrate equivalence relations. Measures of response latencies evidenced a general slowing of behavior for the elderly group across tasks. There were no gender or Age by Gender interactions. Possible explanations for the age differences are discussed.

Parental versus professional perceptions of obstacles to pediatric diabetes care.

Parents of children with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) (n = 38) were surveyed to identify common and difficult obstacles to diabetes care. A list of these obstacles was cross-validated by a second parent sample (n = 47) who rated each item according to how common and difficult each item was for them. The list then was rated by a sample of diabetes professionals (n = 15) to evaluate the extent of agreement between parents and health care professionals regarding the frequency with which these obstacles occur and the difficulty they pose to everyday diabetes care. Professionals disagreed with parents regarding which obstacles were most common and difficult, generally rating problems as significantly more common and difficult (t = 5.20, P = < .001) than did the parents who experienced them. The results of the survey underscore the importance of health care providers evaluating the concerns of the local patient community when developing educational and treatment services for these patients.

Improving dietary practices of elderly individuals: the power of prompting feedback, and social reinforcement.

Three intervention packages consisting of (a) enhanced prompts, feedback, and social reinforcement; (b) a lottery; and (c) serving as a confederate were added and removed in sequence as adjacent conditions in an extended withdrawal design to assess their effects on the dietary choices of elderly persons. Participants were 3 elderly residents of an independent living facility who were identified as making consistently poor dietary choices and who had medical conditions that necessitated changes in their eating habits. All 3 participants demonstrated a marked increase in healthy choices of food items in response to the package of enhanced prompts, feedback, and social reinforcement. No additional increase occurred with the introduction of the lottery and serving as a confederate. Food-choice data indicated that most of these improvements could be attributed to healthier entree and dessert choices. Group data for all residents suggested small improvements in dietary practices during the three intervention conditions, with the largest proportion of the group's healthy choices occurring when the lottery was added to enhanced prompts, feedback, and social reinforcement. Food-choice data indicated that most of these improvements could be attributed to healthier dessert choices alone.

Conversation skills training of thought-disordered schizophrenic patients through attention focusing.

An attention-focusing procedure was designed as discrete trials and multiple prompts with contingent social reinforcement to facilitate the acquisition of conversational skills in thought-disordered schizophrenia patients. Three patients with DSM-III-R diagnoses of schizophrenia completed a standard social skills training program and the attention-focusing procedure in multiple baseline experimental designs. While social skills training had little effect on the acquisition of skills, patients who completed the attention-focusing procedure significantly increased performance of conversational skills and showed some generalization of trained behaviors.

Social skills training in the rehabilitation of patients with traumatic closed head injury.

This research used a traditional social skills training program in the remediation of documented social behavior deficits of severely head-injured persons. More than two years after injury, four severely head-injured persons participated in a skills training program with five components: (1) instruction in the rationale for modifying target behaviors, (2) modeling the correct form of the behaviors, (3) behavioral rehearsal, (4) videotape feedback on performance, and (5) social reinforcement of correct behaviors. The research design was a multiple baseline across behaviors design with four replications. Three patients showed clear treatment effects with evidence of generalization across situations and maintenance of gains at follow-up one year later, thus supporting the applicability of social skills training to this cognitively impaired population.

Behavioral management of exercise training in vascular headache patients: an investigation of exercise adherence and headache activity.

A behavioral package was used to shape and maintain the adherence of 5 subjects with vascular headache to a program of aerobic exercise training. Repeated measures of exercise behavior were examined through the use of a bidirectional changing criterion design. Repeated measures of headache activity were also collected. Results demonstrated a functional relationship between the behavioral package and exercise adherence, because all 5 subjects showed exercise behavior that matched bidirectional changing exercise criteria. The results also indicated clinically significant collateral reductions in vascular headache activity in 4 subjects. Subjects whose aerobic fitness levels were not masked by vasoactive medication also showed measurable increases in aerobic fitness. The results are discussed in terms of the methodology used to demonstrate a functional relationship between the adherence package and exercise behavior and the possible mechanism(s) by which aerobic exercise activity might affect vascular headache activity.

Paradoxical intention in the treatment of obsessional flatulence ruminations.

A case study of the paradoxical treatment of long standing obsessional ruminations about flatulence in a 33-year old female respiratory therapist is described. Self-reported estimates of the frequency and intensity of flatulence were unaffected by a misconception correction procedure that entailed the presentation of scientific data disconfirming the bases of her concerns. Paradoxical instructions to intensify flatus emissions were then employed. These instructions resulted in a rapid elimination of the obsessional ruminations; this improvement was enhanced at 1 yr follow-up.

Parent reinforcement for child achievement: the use of a lottery to maximize parent training effects.

This study describes and evaluates a reinforcement program in which parents earned lottery tickets and won prizes for the progress made by their handicapped children during home-based intervention. An ABAB reversal design replicated across three families was used to assess the effects of the lottery on the children's mastery of language skills. Results showed that the reinforcement of the parents for training accomplishments, as indexed by their children's achievements, produced clinically significant increases in the children's progress when compared with the children's progress under the routine supportive practices of the baseline condition. The implications of the findings for parent training programs in general are discussed.

The cellblock token economy: token reinforcement procedures in a maximum security correctional institution for adult male felons.

Two experiments were conducted (1) to explore the application of token reinforcement procedures in a maximum security correctional institution for adult male felons and (2) to determine to what extent the reinforcement procedures disrupted the day-to-day lives of inmate participants. In Experiment 1, an expanded reversal design revealed that the combination of praise and token reinforcement was more effective than the combinations of praise and noncontingent token award or direct commands on four common institutional activities. The latter two combinations were not found to be any more effective than praise alone. Experiment 2, which also employed a reversal design, indicated that the high levels of performance observed during the token reinforcement phases of Experiment 1 could be attained without subjecting participants to undue hardship in the form of increased deprivation of either social intercourse or the opportunity to engage in recreational and entertainment activities. Client safeguards are discussed in detail.

Schedule control of the vocal behavior of Cebus monkeys.

The vocal behavior of three Cebus monkeys was maintained by fixed-ratio schedules of response dependent reinforcement at values between fixed-ratio 1 and fixed-ratio 15. In one monkey that was exposed to variable-interval, fixed-interval, and conjunctive fixed-ratio fixed-interval schedules of reinforcement, vocal responding occurred at a low rate, but schedule-appropriate patterns were maintained. The rates and patterns of responding engendered indicated that the vocal operant can be brought under schedule control in the monkey by the use of response-dependent reinforcement.