Distraction: its utilization and efficacy with children undergoing dental treatment.

We investigated the utilization and efficacy of distraction in reducing the anxious and disruptive behavior of 4 children undergoing dental treatment. During the distraction procedure, the children were shown a poster and told a story about it during dental treatment. They earned a prize if they attended to the poster and story and could correctly answer questions about them following each intervention visit. The children's disruptive behavior was assessed via direct observation, and results were analyzed within a multiple baseline design. The children exhibited high levels of anxious and disruptive behavior across baseline visits, regardless of the length of time in treatment or number of visits. Anxious and disruptive behavior decreased upon introduction of the intervention for all children. This was accompanied by the children meeting the criterion for correct answers on the distraction quiz. However, 2 of the children demonstrated an increase in their anxious and disruptive behavior across intervention visits. Results are discussed in terms of the need to evaluate treatment strategies that promote maintenance as well as initial changes.

Reinforced practice of children's cooperative behavior during restorative dental treatment.

A reinforced practice procedure was employed to teach cooperative behaviors to two 36-month-old children undergoing restorative dental treatment. The children were rewarded with temporary escape, praise, and stickers for practicing the use of cooperative behavior in the presence of the sights, sounds, and some of the sensations of the dental instruments, before the actual dental treatment. Observations of four classes of disruptive behavior during treatment indicated that baseline levels of disruptive behavior, typically greater than 95 percent, were reduced by more than 70 percent, following several practice visits. These changes were acceptable to the dentist--and to his assistant, who rated the children as more cooperative and less anxious.

The functional role of preschoolers' verbalizations in the generalization of self-instructional training.

We examined the functional role of verbalizations in the generalization of self-instructional training with preschoolers. Children learned to overtly self-instruct during classroom work periods prior to covert training. Data were collected on children's acquisition of verbal regulation during training and on overt use of self-instructions in the classroom generalization setting. Results of a multiple baseline design across subjects indicated that treatment effects were evident in the training setting but did not generalize to the classroom until children were emitting overt self-instructions in the classroom itself. The production of self-verbalizations in the generalization setting was related to changes in correct responding, on-task behavior, and efficiency in completing academic work.

Saying and doing: A commentary on a contingency-space analysis.

This article addresses the contingency-space analysis (Matthews, Shimoff, & Catania, 1987) of the verbal regulation of behavior. From an applied perspective, the conceptualization of the relationship between saying and doing Matthews et al. present may be more complex than is necessary. The central issue in correspondence investigations is a simple one: does correspondence between what people say and what they do occur? The focus of this paper is on the applied and clinical importance of the relationship between verbalizations and relevant behavior and the implications for future research.

Increasing a child's prosocial behaviors: positive and negative consequences in correspondence training.

Correspondence training procedures were used with a young developmentally delayed child to facilitate peer directed talk in a preschool. The typical procedures that provide positive consequences for correspondence were not successful. Therefore, the contingency of a brief timeout for noncorrespondence was added in addition to the positive consequences. Increased verbalizations to peers occurred under these conditions. Generalized changes of increased proximity to peers and increased handraising and participation in groups were also documented. Behavior changes were maintained following the withdrawal of treatment procedures.

Using intermittent reinforcement to program maintenance of verbal/nonverbal correspondence.

We investigated the effects of an intermittent reinforcement procedure on maintenance of verbal/nonverbal correspondence with nutritious snack choices in a day-care setting. Nutritious snack choices were first established using correspondence training procedures in a multiple baseline across three children. Withdrawal of the procedures with one subject led to loss of appropriate responding, suggesting the need for a maintenance strategy. The intermittent reinforcement procedure was implemented in a multiple baseline across subjects. Nutritious snack choices were observed consistently during the intermittent reinforcement condition and the subsequent extinction condition.

Use of escape and reward in the management of young children during dental treatment.

A reinforced practice procedure was used to facilitate cooperative behavior in five children, aged 3 to 6 years, during dental treatment. In a multiple baseline design across subjects, the children were rewarded with escape, inexpensive stickers, and praise for cooperative behavior in the presence of the sights, sounds, and some sensations of the dental instruments prior to actual dental treatment. Direct observations of disruptive behavior via a 15-s interval recording system indicated baseline levels as high as 90% were reduced to less than 15% by the final treatment visit. In addition, the procedure was effective in reducing overall heart rate and blood pressure reactivity to dental treatment. All children were rated by the involved dental professionals as more cooperative and relaxed following exposure to reinforced practice.

Programming maintenance after correspondence training interventions with children.

Interventions were employed to program maintenance following correspondence training. The use of reinforcement of verbalization and a mixed sequence of procedures designed to establish indiscriminable contingencies was evaluated in multiple-baseline designs across subjects and behaviors. The results indicated that target behaviors were maintained under less intrusive interventions and in the absence of programmed contingencies during extended follow-up conditions. The results are discussed in terms of changes in reinforcement schedules established in maintenance interventions.

A comparison of the OHI-S and the PHP in an oral hygiene program.

This study examined two critical measurement properties of the Simplified Oral Hygiene Index (OHI-S) and the Patient Hygiene Performance method (PHP). Both scales proved to be sufficiently sensitive to decreases in plaque.

Preparation for effective self-regulation: the development of generalized verbal control.

A correspondence training procedure was used to develop consistency between children's verbalizations and their subsequent behavior across increasingly remote settings and time. The interval of time between the verbalizations and the opportunity to engage in several target behaviors was systematically increased across four preschool settings. Probes of generalized verbal control of home behaviors were conducted throughout training and showed that generalization was obtained in the absence of any salient externally imposed contingencies after the children had reliably come under the control of verbalizations about preschool behaviors.

Using reinforcement and cueing to increase healthy snack food choices in preschoolers.

We examined the effects of behavioral procedures to modify the food choices of preschoolers during a snack period at school (training setting) and at home (generalization setting). In the first experiment, we evaluated the usefulness of nutrition training and a generalization programming strategy of cueing to improve healthy snacking; in the second experiment we investigated the effect of nutrition training alone. In addition, three cases are presented that illustrate individualized procedures to facilitate generalization of healthy snacking to home. Results indicated that children's healthy snack choices increased in the preschool training setting, that generalization to home was achieved only when procedures to program it were implemented, and that the best results were found when the generalization procedures were tailored to the individual child.

Delayed reinforcement as an indiscriminable contingency in verbal/nonverbal correspondence training.

We investigated the programming of generalization and maintenance of correspondence between verbal and nonverbal behavior in a preschool setting. Four children participated in a series of multiple-baseline designs. In Experiment 1, delayed reinforcement of verbal behavior effectively controlled maintenance of correspondence with previously trained responses and also resulted in generalization of correspondence to one untrained response. As the latter effect was limited, Experiment 2 was a further assessment of the effects of delayed reinforcement of generalization of correspondence to untrained responses, and consistent generalization was shown. Experiment 2 also showed that generalization, if lost, could be recovered through use of "booster training," in which the original contingencies were reinstated for a brief period. Experiment 3 provided replications, with two additional children, of the effects of delayed reinforcement on maintenance of correspondence. Results are discussed in terms of using delayed reinforcement as an indiscriminable contingency.

Contingency contracting with disadvantaged youths: Improving classroom performance.

This study evaluated the effects of a student-teacher contracting procedure on adolescent students' academic productivity. Participants were 13 youths enrolled in a vocational training program for disadvantaged youth and their classroom teacher. During the baseline conditions students were paid contingent on attendance alone, the system operating in the program prior to this research. During contracting conditions students were paid contingent on contract fulfillment of academic productivity goals set by mutual agreement between the student and teacher. Contracting and contingent pay procedures were developed with, and implemented by, the classroom teacher. A reversal experimental design showed that student's productivity more than doubled during contracting conditions as compared with their productivity during baseline.