Assessment and treatment of multiple stereotypies using the augmented 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

Thompson, Rachel

Third Committee Member

Bourret, Jason

Abstract

"Competing stimulus assessments (CSA) have proven to be effective at identifying stimuli that compete with automatically maintained behavior and promoting appropriate engagement with other items. The current study extends research by Jennett, Jann, and Hagopian (2011) by evaluating additional treatment components designed to facilitate competing item identification. In the current study, a standard CSA was conducted in which each item was presented singly; during these trials, the targeted stereotypic responses and item engagement were recorded. No consequences were implemented for item engagement or stereotypy. The initial CSA was then repeated with three remediation procedures: re-presentation, re-presentation and reprimands, and re-presentation with a differential reinforcement (DR) procedure. Findings were then evaluated in a treatment analysis to identify whether ongoing use of the remediation strategies was necessary to maintain low levels of stereotypy and high levels of item engagement. This study extends previous literature by demonstrating that additional treatment components (e.g., DR) can be useful during CSAs. Results also show that DR may be initially necessary but over time the item engagement may maintain in the absence of social contingencies."

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