An evaluation of interrupted and uninterrupted measurement of vocal stereotypy on perceived treatment outcomes

Vocal stereotypy, or repetitive, noncontextual vocalizations, is a problematic form of behavior exhibited by many individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Recent research has evaluated the efficacy of response interruption and redirection (RIRD) in the reduction of vocal stereotypy. Research has indicated that RIRD often results in reductions in the level of vocal stereotypy; however, many previous studies have only presented data on vocal stereotypy that occurred outside RIRD implementation. The current study replicated the procedures of previous studies that have evaluated the efficacy of RIRD and compared 2 data-presentation methods: inclusion of only data collected outside RIRD implementation and inclusion of all vocal stereotypy data from the entirety of each session. Subjects were 7 children who had been diagnosed with ASD. Results indicated that RIRD appeared to be effective when we evaluated the level of vocal stereotypy outside RIRD implementation, but either no reductions or more modest reductions in the level of vocal stereotypy during the entirety of sessions were obtained for all subjects. Results suggest that data-analysis methods used in previous research may overestimate the efficacy of RIRD.

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confidence: 68%

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confidence: 99%

Data analysis of response interruption and redirection as a treatment for vocal stereotypy

Wunderlich

Vollmer

2015

“…The addition of MS to RIRD decreased vocal stereotypy and increased on‐task behavior for both participants. Also, the combined intervention decreased both the frequency and the duration of RIRD implementations for each participant, potentially making RIRD less cumbersome to implement with fidelity (Carroll & Kodak, ). O'Reilly et al () argued for similar modifications in instances in which implementation of a solely consequence‐based intervention may interrupt ongoing activities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The current investigation failed to replicate the results of previous studies on RIRD (e.g., Ahearn et al, ; Liu‐Gitz & Banda, ; Wells et al, ), as both participants demonstrated accelerating trends in vocal stereotypy during one (Elizabeth) or both (Matthew) of the RIRD‐only conditions. These findings are potentially the result of uninterrupted measurement procedures that included data on the occurrence of vocal stereotypy while RIRD was implemented (Carroll & Kodak, ; Wunderlich & Vollmer, ). It is clear that RIRD has been an effective intervention for reducing vocal stereotypy for some participants (Ahearn et al, ; Liu‐Gitz & Banda, ; Wells et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of noncontingent music and response interruption and redirection on vocal stereotypy

Gibbs

Tullis

Thomas

et al. 2018

Vocal stereotypy is a commonly occurring challenging behavior in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that is frequently maintained by automatic reinforcement and often interferes with skill acquisition. Matched stimulation (MS), and response interruption and redirection (RIRD) are two interventions that have been demonstrated to be effective in reducing the occurrence of vocal stereotypy with participants with ASD. The current study sought to determine if the combination of MS (noncontingent music) and RIRD was more effective at reducing vocal stereotypy than RIRD alone and if the parents of children with ASD found the combination of MS and RIRD more socially valid than RIRD alone. The results suggested that the combined intervention resulted in greater suppression of vocal stereotypy and increased occurrences of on-task behavior in both participants. Additionally, RIRD required fewer implementations and had a shorter duration when combined with MS. Results suggest that the combination of MS and RIRD may be an effective intervention outside of highly controlled settings.

“…Furthermore, like most prior research on RIRD, the experimenters did not present data on instances of stereotypy that occurred during RIRD sequences. This is problematic because results of at least two studies suggest that this approach to data analysis may overestimate the effectiveness of RIRD (Carroll & Kodak, ; Wunderlich & Vollmer, ). Thus, further research is needed to determine whether RIRD 1 is a viable substitute for the more intensive RIRD 3.…”

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confidence: 99%

Effects of toy removal and number of demands on vocal stereotypy during response interruption and redirection

Toper-Korkmaz

Lerman

Tsami

2018

Numerous studies have demonstrated the efficacy of response interruption and redirection (RIRD) for reducing vocal stereotypy in children with autism. However, the procedure can be time-consuming to implement. Results of Saini, Gregory, Uran, and Fantetti (2015) suggested that an abbreviated variation of RIRD was just as effective as the commonly used variation of RIRD, but further research is needed. In addition, no studies have evaluated the role of toy removal on the efficacy of RIRD even though this procedural component is frequently combined with RIRD. We examined the separate and combined effects of RIRD and contingent toy removal when three children with autism were required to respond to one demand versus three demands. One-demand RIRD was effective for all participants, and the contingent removal of toys alone reduced responding for two of three participants. Findings have important implications for treating vocal stereotypy in relevant settings.