Development and Validation of an Assessment-Driven Behavioral Intervention for Primary Complex Motor Stereotypies in Young Children.

Complex motor stereotypies are rhythmic, repetitive, fixed, and non-goal directed movements (e.g., bilateral flapping/waving movements of the hands/arms). Movements typically begin in early childhood and can occur in otherwise normally developing ("primary") or autistic ("secondary") children. Stereotypies persist, occur multiple times a day, have prolonged durations, can be socially stigmatizing, and may lead to bullying and isolation. Prior behavioral treatment studies have focused on older children (ages 6-12) and report modest reductions in stereotypy (i.e., between 14% and 33%). The current study involves the functional assessment and treatment of five children with Primary Complex Motor Stereotypy using a modified awareness training procedure, differential reinforcement of other behavior, and schedule thinning in a nonconcurrent multiple baseline design. Results suggest a 99% reduction of motor stereotypy from baseline across all participants.

The role of task preference in the effectiveness of response interruption and redirection.

Response interruption and redirection (RIRD) is a common treatment for automatically reinforced vocal stereotypy; it involves the contingent presentation of task instructions. Tasks that are included in RIRD are typically selected based on caregiver report, which may affect the efficacy of RIRD. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the role of task preference in the efficacy of RIRD for four participants who engaged in vocal stereotypy. We conducted task-preference assessments and selected tasks of varying preferences to include in RIRD. For three out of four participants, the results showed that RIRD with higher preference tasks was not effective at reducing vocal stereotypy, whereas RIRD with lower preference tasks was effective for all participants.

Caregiver involvement in applied behavior-analytic research: A scoping review and discussion.

We conducted a scoping review to characterize the role of caregiver involvement in behavior-analytic research. We reviewed eight behavioral-learning journals from 2011-2022 for works that included children or caregivers as participants and characterized caregiver involvement as passive (implications for caregivers, input, social validity) and active (implementation, caregiver behavior, training, caregiver-collected data). The review identified 228 studies, and almost all (96.1%; n = 219) involved caregivers in some capacity; 94.3% (n = 215) had passive involvement (26.8% had only passive involvement; n = 61), 69.3% (n = 158) had active involvement (1.8% had only active involvement; n = 4), and 3.9% (n = 9) had neither passive nor active involvement. Involvement generally increased over publication years. The most common types of involvement were implications for caregivers, implementation, and input; caregiver-collected data were rare. We propose considerations when engaging caregivers in research and suggest new avenues of inquiry related to caregivers' treatment objectives and social validity, treatment implementers, and caregiver-collected data.

Feasibility and Acceptability of a Compressed Caregiver Training Program to Treat Child Behavior Problems.

In an effort to address some of the criticisms of Behavioral Parent Training programs (BPT; high attrition, reliance on caregiver report measures), the current study examined the feasibility, acceptability, and outcome of an intensive behavior treatment program (120-minute sessions for 5 days/week over the course of 2 weeks). Using a changing criterion single case experimental design, 12 children (M child age = 4.9 years) and their primary caregivers completed the 2-week function-based intervention procedure designed to increase children's frustration tolerance via a wait training procedure based on the principles of applied behavior analysis. Using both direct observation and standardized measures, results indicated that the treatment was effective in reducing childhood behavior problems, both within and between appointments (Cohen's ds = 3.2 and 1.37, respectively). Preliminary evidence suggests that a compressed treatment package designed to train caregivers in function-based intervention strategies is feasible and acceptable.

Effects of Demand Complexity on Echolalia in Students With Autism.

Echolalia is a linguistic phenomenon common in individuals with autism spectrum disorder. We examined the relationship between demand complexity and immediate echolalia in four students with an autism diagnosis in a university-based academic setting. Mastered and novel antecedent verbal demands that required an intraverbal response were systematically alternated using a multielement design to test whether participants' immediate echolalia was socially mediated. Results showed that immediate echolalia was more likely to occur during complex novel intraverbal tasks than in any other condition. Implications for function-based treatment strategies are discussed. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40617-020-00535-7.