Browsing by Subject "Behavior modification"
Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
- Results Per Page
- Sort Options
Item Assessment and treatment of automatically maintained hand mouthing in individuals with developmental disabilities(2005) Cannella, Helen Irene; O'Reilly, Mark F.Research has shown that engaging in hand mouthing can be detrimental to an individual’s health, adaptive behavior, and social functioning, and interferes with participation in daily educational activities. Research also indicates that hand mouthing is most often maintained by automatic reinforcement (i.e., non-social contingencies). Functional analysis results have shown that automatically maintained behaviors may be differentiated (i.e., only occurs in the alone condition) or undifferentiated (i.e., occurs across all conditions), thus revealing two different classes of automatically maintained behavior. While numerous interventions have successfully treated hand mouthing, no studies have compared the effectiveness of a matched intervention across the two classes of automatically maintained hand mouthing. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of a matched intervention across the two classes of hand mouthing in five individuals with severe to profound developmental disabilities. This was accomplished by performing functional analyses and preference assessments for each participant. A matched intervention was developed based on assessment results and focused on replacing the maintaining sensory stimulus of hand mouthing. The dependent measure was the percentage of intervals with hand mouthing, and data were analyzed using single-subject research designs. The matched intervention alone was effective at reducing the percentage of hand mouthing in four of the five participants. One participant required a more intensive intervention (i.e., matched intervention with DRO and blocking) to be implemented before decreases in hand mouthing were observed. Across the different patterns of behavior, the two participants with differentiated patterns showed immediate and durable decreases in hand mouthing. For the three participants with undifferentiated patterns of behavior, the intervention led to gradual decreases in hand mouthing, but for two of the three participants, the behavior was reduced significantly with the matched intervention. For the third participant with undifferentiated patterns, the matched intervention with DRO and blocking led to decreases in hand mouthing. The results, limitations, and future research will be discussed.Item Effects of time of day of a physical activity lesson on classroom behavior in elementary school children(2007-08) Grieco, Lauren Alexis; Bartholmew, John B.Optimal learning times exist for children during the school day, thus it is important to examine the factors that may modify learning. The ability of a child to control his behavior in the classroom is important to learning and academic performance. Physical activity is important for health but may also modify behavior. Through strategic placement of physically active lessons during the school day, academic performance through on-task focus may be optimized. The purpose of this study was to examine the differential effects of time of day and physical activity on the behavioral control of third grade children. Students (N=137) were observed before and after an active or control lesson in the morning and in the afternoon. A three-way (pre- vs. post-observation x time of day [morning vs. afternoon] x lesson type [active vs. control]) repeated measures analysis of variance compared time on task between observation periods. Results indicated a significant difference in time on task during the afternoon between the active and control lessons. Specifically, children significantly improved their on task focus during the afternoon upon following an active lesson when compared to controls. Thus, physically active lessons are useful in improving on-task behavior in the afternoon during subsequent academic lessons.Item An examination of the influence of the behavior altering effect of the motivating operation on the discriminative stimulus(2006) Edrisinha, Chaturi da Alwis; O'Reilly, Mark F.The purpose of this research was to identify the behavior altering effect of the motivating operation (MO) on the discriminative stimulus (S^D). Two studies were conducted to systematically evaluate this effect. Study 1 examined the behavior altering effect of the MO on the S^D with two participants whose target behavior was identified as challenging behavior. Study 2 examined the behavior altering effect of the MO on the S^D with two participants whose target behavior was the use of a Voice Output Communication Aid (VOCA). Both Study 1 and Study 2 had four phases. The conceptual logic and methodology for both studies were the same. Phase 1 of each study identified the consequence maintaining the operant. In Study 1, a functional analysis identified the consequence maintaining the target behavior (challenging behavior) for two participants. In Study 2, a preference assessment was conducted to identify preferred stimuli that the target behavior (pressing a VOCA device) accessed for two additional participants. In Phase II, for both studies stimulus discrimination was trained. In Phase III, for both studies presession MOs were manipulated to verify the influence of the MO on the target behavior. Finally in Phase IV, for both studies, as in Phase III presession MOs were manipulated and the behavior altering effects of the MO was examined by placing the target behavior on extinction when the S^D was both present and absent (S^∆). In this way the direct effect of the MO on the S^D was examined in both Study 1 and Study 2, for a total of four participants. Results of Study 1 and Study 2 were similar in all phases across target behaviors for all four participants. Results indicated that, during extinction responding was higher in both the S^D and S^∆ conditions, when the MO was present than when the MO was absent. These results indicated that in the context of extinction the MO has a behavior altering effect on the S^D.