Comparison of discontinuous data collection methods for disruptive behavior in applied settings

Document Type

Thesis

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Degree

M.S. Applied Behavior Analysis

Date Completed

2014

First Committee Member

Bourret, Jason

Second Committee Member

MacDonald, Rebecca

Third Committee Member

Thompson, Rachel

Abstract

"Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) engage in repetitive or restricted responding. This can include consistently manding a single item in the presence of many preferred items. The restriction of responding can result in limited exposure to new stimuli, satiation on reinforcers, and social stigma surrounding perseverative engagement with one item. Most research on manding and ASD focuses on the establishment and maintenance of a single mand. There is limited research on interventions to diversify manding, particularly in multioperant environments. We evaluated the effects of the schedules of reinforcement, discriminative stimuli, and motivating operations on the emission of mands in a multioperant environment. Manipulation of reinforcement schedules was effective at increasing target manding for one of two participants. Manipulation of discriminative stimuli in the form of prompting was effective at increasing target manding for one of two participants. Manipulation of motivating operations in the form of deprivation was effective at increasing target manding for one of two participants."

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