Maintaining behavior in a child with autism using a previously neutral stimulus, a remote control tactile stimulus, as the consequence

Few studies have investigated methods for establishing neutral stimuli as conditioned reinforcers in human subjects. Conditioned reinforcers, however, can alleviate some of the problems encountered in applied behavior analytic (ABA) therapy for children with autism, such as satiation and suitability of reinforcers for specific environments. A series of reversals evaluated the effects of a conditioning procedure involving pairing a neutral stimulus, the remote control stimulus (RCT), with an identified reinforcer. Phase 1 demonstrated that the RCT was neutral. In Phase 2, alternating pairing and testing conditions were run. During testing the effects of pairing were evaluated by the effectiveness of the RCT in maintaining a response in the absence of a previously available reinforcer (extinction test) and in increasing a new response over a baseline level (learning test). Results from the extinction test suggest that under some pairing conditions the RCT can acquire properties of a reinforcer.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of North Texas

Year dc:date

2000

Author dc:creator

• Wheat, Leigh Ann Stiles

Contributors dc:contributor

• Ala'i-Rosales, Shahla
• Rosales Ruíz, Jesús
• Hyten, Cloyd

• Autistic children -- Behavior modification.
• Autism in children -- Treatment.
• Reinforcement (Psychology)
• extinction test
• autism
• behavior analytic therapy
• reinforcers
• RCT

Statement dc:rights

• Use restricted to UNT Community
• Copyright
• Wheat, Leigh Ann Stiles
• Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

oclc: 47734100
untcat: b2306136
https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2550/
ark: ark:/67531/metadc2550

OAI identifier oai:identifier

info:ark/67531/metadc2550