Behavior modification and the psychoses of childhood: A review.

Abstract

The literature pertaining to the use of operant-training procedures with psychotic children is reviewed. Ferster's concept of "behavioral deficit" is discussed as the explicit theoretical framework that can most parsimoniously govern these behavior analyses and subsequent modification programs. With relatively simple and communicable methods, beneficial results have been rapidly achieved, even by nonprofessional workers. Despite some lack of experimental rigor, the evidence is interpreted as strongly supportive of a social-learning model of severely pathological behavior and an operant-training model of therapy. A simplified etiological hypothesis is offered, and the issue of generality of adaptive change is discussed. Emphasis is placed upon attentional reorientation and the acquistion of elementary "learning strategies." 1 This review is based upon a paper submitted to the faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania in partial fulfillment of requirements for the PhD degree. The author expresses his gratitude to Justin Aronfreed, James Geer, Harvey Winston, and Julius Wishner for their helpful critical comments.

Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions: Empirically Validated Treatments for Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…The early work of Charles Ferster and Marian DeMyer (Ferster and DeMyer 1961 , 1962 ) demonstrated that children with autism could indeed acquire new skills via an operant discrimination paradigm. During the 1960s and 70s, the study of operant learning treatment approaches for autism increased (Hingtgen et al 1967 ; Leff 1968 ; Lovaas et al 1974 ; Mazuryk et al 1978 ). Early work in this area demonstrated the effectiveness of operant methodology to teach a variety of skills: language (Lovaas et al 1966 ; Risley and Wolf 1967 ), social (Odom and Strain 1986 ; Ragland et al 1978 ; Strain et al 1979 ), play (Lewis and Boucher 1988 ; Lifter et al 1993 ; Stahmer 1995 ), self-help (Ayllon and Azrin 1968 ; Baker 1984 ), and academic skills (McGee and McCoy 1981 ) as well as to reduce the occurrence of “interfering” or challenging behaviors (Carr and Durand 1985 ; Schreibman and Carr 1978 ).…”

A quarter century of progress on the early detection and treatment of autism spectrum disorder

“…With the advent of Skinnerian principles in psychological research, as early as the 1960s and 70s, practitioners began using operant conditioning to address impairments associated with autism (Hingtgen, Coulter, & Churchill, 1967; Leff, 1968; Lovaas, Schreibman, & Koegel, 1974; Mazuryk, Barker, & Harasym, 1978) and taught parents to use these methods as well (Berkowitz & Graziano, 1972). With the publication of Lovaas' 1987 controlled trial of intensive early intervention based in applied behavior analysis (Lovaas, 1987), the notion that autism is a treatable condition that responds to early intervention was embraced by many in the professional and parent community.…”

Desensitization procedures in the treatment of childhood disorders.

“…Further, the review indicates that the technique is amenable to a variety of procedural adjustments that do not alter the basic structure underlying the therapy process. Paralleling the conclusions from reviews in related areas (Gelfand & Hartmann, 1968;Leff, 1968;Pawlicki, 1970), this review acknowledges the widespread use of all types of desensitization in the absence of adequate assessment standards and experimental rigor. Whereas research describing acceleration techniques with children seems to have taken great strides toward fulfillment of scientific requirements, data on desensitization have advanced little past anecdotal records and offer little improvement over the case study level of investigation, with the possible exception of research involving vicarious procedures.…”

“…Several years ago Gelfand and Hartmann (1968) concluded that behavior therapy with children had been successfully applied to the deceleration of maladaptive behaviors as well as to the acceleration of adaptive behaviors. Independently of Gelfand and Hartmann's general article, Leff (1968) reviewed the operant procedures specifically applicable to the acceleration of adaptive behaviors with severely disturbed children and found the techniques to be highly effective. The present review focuses on one class of deceleration techniques, namely, desensitization procedures as applied to the treatment of childhood disorders.…”