Behavioral variability in selection of play items : assessment and treatment

Document Type

Thesis

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Degree

M.S. Applied Behavior Analysis

Date Completed

2016

First Committee Member

Bancroft, Stacie

Second Committee Member

Thompson, Rachel

Third Committee Member

Sassi, Jessica

Abstract

"Invariable or repetitive behavior is a defining feature of autism-spectrum disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). In analogue play tasks, children with autism tend to respond invariably relative to their typically developing peers (Bancroft, Thompson, Peters, Dozier, & Harper, 2015). Lag schedules, in which a reinforcer is delivered following responses that vary from previous responses (e.g., Page & Neuringer, 1985), can increase response variability during play tasks (e.g, Baruni, Rapp, Lipe, & Novotny, 2014). However, lag schedules alone are not always effective (e.g., Napolitano, Smith, Zarcone, Goodkin, & McAdam, 2010). The purpose of the present study was to evaluate a treatment hierarchy consisting of lag schedules combined with other techniques for treating invariable selections during play tasks. Participants were two children with autism aged 7 to 9 years enrolled in a school for children with autism. Four play tasks associated with the lowest baseline variability were targeted for each participant. A treatment for invariable selection of play materials was identified for both participants. Variability of selections for both participants did not increase until modifications were included with the lag schedule. This study has implications for practitioners tasked with assessing and treating invariable responding by children with autism during play tasks and for applied researchers investigating lag-schedule-based interventions for invariable responding."

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