Replication of response blocking and re-presentation in a competing stimulus assessment

Document Type

Thesis

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Degree

M.S. Applied Behavior Analysis

Date Completed

2020

First Committee Member

Sassi, Jessica

Second Committee Member

Roscoe, Eileen

Third Committee Member

Thompson, Rachel

Abstract

"Children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may engage in automatically maintained behavior such as motor stereotypy. Typographies of motor stereotypy vary, but frequently include repetitive movements such as arm flapping or body rocking (Rapp & Vollmer, 2005). Because automatically maintained behavior is, by definition, not sensitive to social contingencies, it can be challenging to implement extinction (Vollmer et al., 1994). Competing stimulus assessments (CSA) have been used to identify items that, when presented, are associated with low levels of automatically maintained behavior. The current study systematically replicates methodology by Jennett et al. (2011), which assessed whether free access to items, item re-presentation, and item re-presentation with response blocking produce a socially significant decrease of motor stereotypy and increase in functional item engagement. Jennett et al. (2011) procedures effectively identified items associated with increased item manipulation and low levels of self-injurious behavior when free access to items alone was ineffective. In the current study, a series of CSAs were conducted in which (a) items were presented singly and participants had free access to them for the entirety of the session, (b) items were re-presented following 5 s without engagement and (c) items were re-presented and all attempts at motor stereotypy were blocked. Both motor stereotypy and item engagement were recorded across all sessions. This study extends previous literature by replicating components of a competing items assessment that effectively identify items associated with a decrease in motor stereotypy as well as an increase in appropriate item engagement. Similar to Jennett et al. (2011), free access alone to items was insufficient in decreasing levels of problem behavior, however, including re-presentation of items and response blocking resulted in low levels of motor stereotypy and high levels of appropriate item engagement."

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