Reduction of rapid eating in children with autism : generalization of a pager prompt

Document Type

Thesis

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Degree

M.S. Applied Behavior Analysis

Date Completed

2016

First Committee Member

Ahearn, William H.

Second Committee Member

Hanley, Gregory P.

Third Committee Member

Gould, Douglas D.

Abstract

"Previous research has shown that behavioral interventions can be effective in reducing rapid eating in children with autism. Research has shown that the use of fixed-time and adjusting time differential reinforcement of low rates of behavior (DRL) schedules have reduced the pace of eating for rapid eaters (Lennox, Miltenberger & Donnelly, 1987; Wright & Vollmer, 2002). Thus far, no study has empirically assessed the generalization of the intervention to novel settings, times or therapists. Anglesea, Hoch and Taylor (2008) showed that a vibrating timer may facilitate success with a DRL intervention. The current study investigated the use of differential reinforcement of low rates, signaled by a vibrating timer, to reduce rapid food consumption in children with autism. During training the participants were instructed to take a bite when the timer vibrated. Follow-up probes demonstrated that the use of the vibrating timer led to increased intervals between bites for all three participants across therapists, locations and meal-times."

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