This study systematically replicated and extended previous research on response interruption and redirection (RIRD) by assessing instructed responses of a different topography than the target behavior, percentage of session spent in treatment, generalization of behavior reduction, and social validity of the intervention. Results showed that RIRD produced substantial decreases in vocal stereotypy. Limitations of this study were that behavior reduction did not generalize to novel settings or with novel instructors and that appropriate vocalizations did not improve.

We evaluated the effects of 3 types of noncontingent auditory stimulation (music, white noise, recordings of vocal stereotypy) on 2 children with autism who engaged in high rates of vocal stereotypy. For both participants, the music condition was the most effective in decreasing vocal stereotypy to near-zero levels, resulted in the highest parent social validity ratings, and was selected as most preferred in treatment preference evaluations.

Structured choice-making procedures, referred to as preference assessments, have been frequently used to identify reinforcers for individuals with developmental disabilities; however, few studies have examined the use of preference assessments with older adults with dementia. This study evaluated the utility of 4 versions of a 2-choice preference assessment for identifying items and activities associated with high levels of engagement in clients at an adult day care program. The same 8 items were presented in 4 formats (ie, verbal, pictorial, textual, tangible), and items from each assessment were ranked with respect to the subsequent level of participant engagement with each item. Correlations were computed between the preference hierarchy and subsequent engagement levels for each format. The format with the highest correlation coefficient was subsequently used in interventions in which frequent structured choice opportunities were presented throughout the day to increase engagement. For 3 of 4 participants, the vocal modality was optimal, while the tangible modality was optimal for the fourth. Moderate to substantial increases in engagement were observed for all participants when structured choices were offered. Implications for activity engagement in adult day care programs are discussed.

Differential reinforcement procedures may promote unprompted correct responding, resulting in a quicker transfer of stimulus control than nondifferential reinforcement. Recent studies that have compared reinforcement arrangements have found that the most effective arrangement may differ across participants. The current study conducted an assessment of differential reinforcement arrangements (i.e., quality, schedule, and magnitude) and nondifferential reinforcement to identify the most effective arrangement for each participant. The assessment phase showed that the quality arrangement was the most efficient for all participants during auditory-visual matching. Next, a validation phase was conducted to evaluate whether the assessment would predict the most effective arrangement across multiple skills. The results from the assessment phase were validated for all participants for the same skill. However, the results were only validated for one participant during the other skills (i.e., tact and intraverbal). The results are discussed in light of previous research and future areas of research.

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