A Stimulus Control Procedure to Decrease Motor and Vocal Stereotypy

Abstract

A changing criterion design was used to examine the effects of two stimuli (a green card and a red card), conditioned via discrimination training, on reducing motor and vocal stereotypy in a youngster with autism while he looked at books. During discrimination training, motor and vocal stereotypy was not interrupted in the presence of a green stimulus, but was interrupted in the presence of a red stimulus using manual guidance and appropriate behavior was reinforced. After the participant demonstrated successful discrimination of the stimuli (i.e., the absence of stereotypy in the presence of a red stimulus and the engagement in stereotypy in the presence of a green stimulus), intervention began. During intervention, upon meeting criterion for latency to engage in motor and vocal stereotypy in the presence of the red stimulus for a target duration, the participant was provided access to the green stimulus, which signaled that motor and vocal stereotypy would not be interrupted. The criterion latency to engage in stereotypy in the presence of the red stimulus was systematically increased. Simultaneously, the duration of access to the green stimulus was systematically decreased. The red and green stimuli were faded from poster boards to colored 10Â10cm cards, and stimulus control was generalized to the participant's classroom and to a community setting (i.e., public library). Results are discussed in terms of discrimination training as a useful intervention for reducing motor and vocal stereotypy.

Effects of Verbal Reprimands on Targeted and Untargeted Stereotypy

“…Furthermore, researchers should evaluate additional treatment components that may enhance the effects of the procedure. For example, O'Connor et al () reduced stereotypy using blocking, while also providing praise and edibles for appropriate reading in the signaled punishment condition. Alternatively, future research could evaluate the effects of a different response interruption technique (e.g., motor or vocal response interruption redirection) in the RC condition.…”

Effects of Response Blocking and Programmed Stimulus Control on Motor Stereotypy: A Pilot Study

“…More research is clearly needed to isolate the mechanism of control from response blocking as well as other strategies for establishing, evaluating, and maintaining stimulus control (Brusa & Richman, 2009;Haley, Heick, & Luiselli, 2010;O'Connor et al, 2011).…”

“…There is some research showing that these limitations can be overcome by establishing stimulus control over motor stereotypy. For example, Brusa andRichman (2009) andO'Connor, Prieto, Hoffman, DeQuinzio, andTaylor (2011) successfully applied response blocking when children with autism exhibited motor stereotypy in the presence of a red stimulus but not in the presence of a green stimulus. Following this discrimination training, the red stimulus alone maintained the low frequency stereotypy that was achieved with response blocking.…”

The Effects of Using a Conditioned Stimulus to Cue DRO Schedules

“…O'Connor et al () extended the results of Brusa and Richman () by evaluating the continued effects of two stimuli conditioned via discrimination training on decreasing both motor and vocal stereotypy related to books displayed by an 11‐year‐old boy with autism. During discrimination training, a green card was paired with free access to stereotypy while a red card was paired with the blocking and redirection of stereotypy.…”

“…While previous research using stimulus control procedures has focused mainly on automatically maintained stereotypic behavior or the use of DRO procedures alone, we were interested in the combined effects of discrimination training and DRO procedures on reducing non‐contextual vocalizations that were maintained by teacher attention. The procedures used for discrimination training were derived from Brusa and Richman () and O'Connor et al ().…”