A Preliminary Evaluation of a Brief Behavioral Parent Training for Challenging Behavior in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit challenging behaviors. Existing behavioral parent trainings (BPT) address ASD symptomology, but are lengthy and associated with significant attrition. In the current pilot study, a longitudinal randomized controlled trial was used to evaluate a novel brief BPT targeting caregivers of children with ASD ages 5-9. The 6-session BPT, delivered in a group format, focused on high-frequency challenging behaviors (e.g., problem behaviors, feeding and sleep issues). Caregivers who received BPT (n = 29), relative to an active control (psychoeducation/supportive therapy; n = 9), reported higher treatment satisfaction and acceptability. Challenging behaviors were reduced in the BPT and active control groups. The novel BPT was a feasible and acceptable intervention to target challenging behaviors in youth with ASD.

Pediatric Prevention: Academic Behavior.

Many children in the United States are performing below basic standards in reading, mathematics, and writing. Children at risk for academic problems often have comorbid classroom behavior problems and/or are diagnosed with high-incidence disabilities. Early intervention to prevent academic problems is a key goal of school-wide response-to-intervention models. The goal of school-based instructional intervention is to increase children's strength of responding so basic academic skills can be combined to solve more complex tasks. Parents and caregivers can support intervention efforts at school by engaging in frequent communication with student assistance teams and helping children with academic work completion at home.

Effects of word overlap on generalized gains from a repeated readings intervention.

We compared children's gains in oral reading fluency after applying a standard fluency-building intervention to three training passages that differed in word overlap (high, low, and multiple exemplar) with an untrained generalization passage. Participants were 132 White and Hispanic third-grade children from two schools in the northeast and mountain west. Children were randomly assigned within classrooms to the three word overlap conditions, pre-tested on their assigned training and a common generalization passage, received a fluency-building intervention on their assigned training passage, and then post-tested on the same two passages. Regression analyses were conducted to examine the effects of word overlap condition on the children's fluency gains after controlling for pre-test fluency and classroom. Results revealed significantly larger priming and generalization effects for the multiple exemplar versus both the low- and high-word overlap conditions. Survival curves showed that a significantly larger proportion of children in the multiple exemplar condition survived as generalized responders at all generalization levels relative to the other two conditions. Implications for assessing and promoting generalized oral reading fluency in response-to-intervention models and directions for future research are discussed.

Agreement Between Structured Descriptive Assessments and Functional Analyses Conducted Over a Telehealth System.

This study examined whether experimental functional analyses (FAs) conducted by parents at home with coaching via telehealth would produce differentiated results, and compared these results to the functions identified from structured descriptive assessments (SDAs) also conducted by parents at home via telehealth. Four boys between the ages of 4- and 8-years old with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their parents participated. All assessments were conducted in the children's homes with their parents serving as intervention agents and with coaching from remote behavior therapists using videoconferencing technology. Parent-implemented FAs produced differentiated results for all 4 children in the study. Overall, analyzing antecedent-behavior (A-B) and behavior-consequence (B-C) relations from the SDA videos identified only half of the functions identified by the FAs. For children whose SDA results were differentiated, analyzing A-B relations correctly identified 4 of 5 functions. Analyzing B-C relations correctly identified 5 of 6 functions identified by the experimental FA, but overidentified attention for all children. Implications for conducting functional analyses and interpreting structured descriptive assessment via telehealth are discussed.

Renewal during functional communication training.

Functional communication training (FCT) is one of the most commonly prescribed interventions for the treatment of severe destructive behavior exhibited by individuals with intellectual disabilities. Although highly effective, FCT has been shown to fail in some cases when treatment is introduced into the child's typical environment. Basic and translational research on renewal provides a model for studying the relapse of destructive behavior following successful response to treatment in clinic settings using FCT. In the present study, we evaluated whether relapse of destructive behavior could be attributed to the discriminative control of the home context, which was historically correlated with reinforcement for destructive behavior. We implemented baseline contingencies in the home setting with caregivers acting as interventionists (i.e., Context A). We then implemented FCT in a treatment clinic with trained therapists (i.e., Context B). Finally, we introduced FCT in the home setting with caregivers implementing the treatment procedures (i.e., return to Context A). For three of four participants we observed the relapse of destructive behavior consistent with operant renewal. We discuss the implications of these findings with respect to strategies designed to promote generalization of FCT across settings during the treatment of severe destructive behavior.

Children's preference for mixed- versus fixed-ratio schedules of reinforcement: A translational study of risky choice.

Laboratory research has shown that when subjects are given a choice between fixed-ratio and bi-valued mixed-ratio schedules of reinforcement, preference typically emerges for the mixed-ratio schedule even with a larger ratio requirement. The current study sought to replicate and extend these findings to children's math problem completion. Using an ABCBC reversal design, four fourth-grade students were given the choice of completing addition problems reinforced on either a fixed-ratio 5 schedule or one of three mixed-ratio schedules; an equivalent mixed-ratio (1, 9) schedule, a mixed-ratio (1, 11) schedule with a 20% larger ratio requirement, and an equally lean mixed-ratio (5, 7) schedule without the small fixed-ratio 1 component. This was followed by a reversal back to the preceding phase in which preference for the mixed-ratio schedule had been observed, and a final reversal back to the mixed-ratio (5, 7) phase. Findings were consistent with previous research in that all children preferred the mixed-ratio (1, 9) schedule over the equivalent fixed-ratio 5 schedule. Preference persisted for the leaner mixed-ratio (1, 11) schedule for three of the four children. Indifference or preference for the fixed-ratio 5 alternative was observed in phases containing the mixed-ratio (5, 7) schedule. These results extend previous research on risky choice to children's math problem completion and highlight the importance of a small ratio component in the emergence of preference for bi-valued mixed-ratio schedules. Implications of these results for arranging reinforcement to increase children's academic responding are discussed.

Choice in transition: Replication and extension to preschool children in a naturalistic setting.

This study replicated previous basic research into the dynamics of choice and extended this analysis to children's behavior in a naturalistic setting. Two preschoolers with disabilities were observed interacting with their teachers at baseline and during an experimental analysis involving four pairs of concurrent variable-interval schedules of adult attention implemented by an experimenter. Each child was exposed to four experimental phases in which the relative reinforcer rates for on- and off-task behavior were 10:1, 1:1, 1:10, and reversed back to 10:1. The 10:1 phase was designed to mimic the same schedules and types of adult attention observed at baseline. We used the generalized matching equation to model steady-state behavior at the end of the transition phases and to evaluate changes in sensitivity at various points throughout the phases. Choice in transition was evaluated by plotting log behavior ratios by session, cumulated time on- and off-task and cumulated attention for on- and off-task behavior by session, and interreinforcer behavior ratios following different sequences of the first four reinforcer deliveries. The generalized matching equation accounted for a large proportion of variance in steady-state responding, sensitivity values increased steadily throughout the phases, patterns of choice in transition were similar to those reported in basic research, and interreinforcer preference generally shifted toward the just-reinforced alternative. These findings are consistent with previous basic research and support the generality of the dynamics of choice to children's on- and off-task behavior reinforced by adult attention.