Behavioral Interventions最新文献

Media's framing of autism treatment practices may significantly impact parents' and professionals' choices. This study examined the trends of media's framing of evidence-based practices (EBP) and non-evidence-based practices (NEBP) within television transcripts (n = 203) comparing previously published transcript data from 2000 to 2012 and new data from the subsequent decade (i.e., 2013–2022). Results indicated that EBPs received less overall television coverage than NEBPs. However, applied behavior analysis remained the most mentioned EBP. Although television networks framed NEBPs negatively, these treatment practices also received proportionately more positive statements than EBPs. Based on these results, behavior analysts must continue to disseminate to journalists and to influence media framing of EBPs for autism. If not, these continuing television media framing trends could result in potential harm to autistic individuals.

Delay tolerance training is used to teach children to accept delayed access to a requested item or event without exhibiting challenging behaviors. It is used during schedule thinning following acquisition of a functional communication response (FCR) or trained on its own in a skills-based treatment package. Typically, delay tolerance training occurs in a clinic or hospital, and rarely in a school classroom. Most often delay tolerance training has been used with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study integrated findings from previous research on delay tolerance training to evaluate training in a classroom, with a child with Smith-Magenis syndrome, using a simplified protocol. The training resulted in acquisition of delay tolerance for 5 min from a baseline of 32 s (average). The participant's teachers were then trained to use similar strategies throughout the school day and quickly acquired and applied the procedure with reported benefits.

Hygiene is an important area related to personal health and socialization. Regular toothbrushing can prevent painful procedures related to tooth decay and gum disease and reduce bad breath and plaque that may interfere with social and professional acceptance. Unfortunately, many individuals with disabilities do not engage in regular and thorough preventative dental hygiene, placing them at risk for oral disease. Using a multiple baseline design, three participants who independently brushed their teeth but did not brush frequently or thoroughly were taught to self-evaluate and record using a self-management (SM) checklist. The findings of this study suggest that SM may be a helpful method for improving the frequency and quality of toothbrushing. Outcomes regarding supporting individuals to achieve maximal independence in these essential life skills are discussed.

Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities who engage in severe challenging behavior may comprise 5%–10% of the clinical population. Unfortunately, challenging behavior literature tends to underrepresent adult participants and emphasize efficacy (Does the intervention work?) more often than effectiveness (Does the intervention work in real world settings?). We conducted a systematic program evaluation to examine the effectiveness of a comprehensive behavioral treatment package using a hybrid quasi-experimental consecutive case series design featuring eight adults who experienced the treatment package. The results depicted a substantial decrease in challenging behavior and increase in adaptive behavior across sessions for most participants. Impressive treatment integrity outcomes (M = 84%, range, 82%–90%) showcased that the intervention was implemented as intended. Social validity surveys administered to participants, caregivers, and case managers provide support for the acceptability of the treatment package. Project limitations, clinical considerations, and future directions are discussed.

Quality behavior intervention requires critical thinking skills, in-the-moment analysis, flexibility, and clinical judgment. Yet, there has been limited research on developing these complex skills. Flexible prompt fading (FPF) is a prompting procedure that requires the interventionist to continually analyze learner responding and make in-the-moment decisions to maximize learning during the teaching session, ultimately using clinical judgment while using prompting as a teaching strategy. FPF has consistently been demonstrated to be effective and in some cases more efficient than other prompting procedures. However, there has been no research demonstrating effective training procedures for the skills necessary to implement FPF. In order to more widely disseminate procedures that require these analytic skills, effective training procedures must be identified. The current study evaluated the effects of behavioral skills training (BST) and a progressive approach to staff training to teach staff to implement FPF with autistic individuals/individuals with ASD and the effects of each training method on development of clinical judgment skills. The results demonstrated that both training procedures were effective in teaching implementation of FPF.

There is currently limited research on early, intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) within Australia. The purpose of this paper was to provide a programmatic description and preliminary findings of an intervention approach which provides a high level of intensity of intervention to preschool aged children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A total of 154 children with autism participated in the program from 2011 to 2022. At the group level, children who received 27 hr per week of intervention showed significant gains on standardized cognitive and adaptive behavior measures during an average one year of intervention. Further examination of the response to intervention at an individual level demonstrated that 84% of children showed an acceleration in their rate of learning during intervention, with 52% more than doubling their rate of learning in this time. Age was determined to predict improvement in developmental trajectory, but intake cognitive abilities did not. In general, children who commenced intervention at a younger age made substantial improvements in their rate of learning, but children who commenced intervention at an older age made even greater improvements relative to their skills at commencement. The results as well as limitations given the exploratory nature of this paper are discussed, along with implications for addressing the needs of young autistic children in Australia.

The speaker immersion protocol (SIP) is an intervention that attempts to increase the frequency and spontaneity of a child's spoken communication. SIP has demonstrated effectiveness with increasing mands and other verbal operants (Ross et al., 2006); however, prior investigations have not examined SIP in the context of needing to recruit the social attention of a communicative partner in the presence of an establishing operation. The current study sought to extend the literature on SIP by adding a recruitment for social attention component to the intervention with two children with Autism spectrum disorder and limited spontaneous language. Prior to intervention, both participants engaged in low levels of target-requesting behavior even when a communication partner was readily available close by. After receiving an intervention designed to increase vocal requests, both participants demonstrated a significant increase in the number of vocal requests they emitted; however, that did not generalize to making appropriate bids for attention until recruitment for attention was embedded within SIP. Future studies should continue to examine the most effective and efficient ways to improve both the quantity and the quality of autistic children's social communication.

Self-injurious behavior is thought to be the product of interactions between deficits related to a primary disability (e.g., limited communication repertoires and adaptive skills) and learning experiences that reinforce problem behavior (e.g., consoling the child, terminating non-preferred activities, etc.). For these cases, functional communication training (FCT) may be prescribed to decrease challenging behavior and increase the client's communicative repertoire. However, FCT procedures for individuals with multiple physical impairments may require considerable individualization and modifications. Unfortunately, the existing body of research related to the assessment and treatment of behavior of individuals with motor, visual, or other impairments is relatively limited. The purpose of this report is to demonstrate how practitioners can modify assessment and treatment procedures to decrease challenging behavior and promote independence when working with individuals with multiple impairments. We provide an example of effective skill acquisition and behavior reduction interventions for a young girl, Ava, presenting with multiple disabilities—including visual, hearing, and motor impairments. Consistent with the habilitative aims of applied behavior analysis, the intervention was effective at decreasing Ava's challenging behavior and increasing her independent communication and adaptive behavior.