Chapter 6 Application of Withdrawal Design

A-B-A Design The Study: Teaching Socially Valid Social Interaction Responses to Students with Severe Disabilities in an Integrated School Setting Research Question: The study explored the effectiveness of constant time delay to teach children with severe disabilities appropriate social interaction skills

The subjects: –2 males –12 and 13 years old –Autistic –Verbal (prompt-dependent and echolalic) –Displaying aggressive and self-injurious behavior A-B-A Design

Setting: –Self-contained special education classroom –3 other student with similar disabilities A-B-A Design

Dependent Variables: –The subjects’ responses to social greetings –4 different possibilities Correct response given within 5 seconds of initiation No response given within 5 seconds of initiation Echolalic response (repetition of part or all of initiated greeting) Prompted response (correct response to initiation after prompt) A-B-A Design

Independent Variable: –Constant Time Delay Procedure implemented by the teacher A greeting is presented to the student If the student responds incorrectly or fails to respond the correct response in provided If the student responds correctly verbal praise is given A-B-A Design

The intervention: –10 trails each consisting of 5 greetings –Student is presented with a social greeting A correct response within 5 seconds elicited verbal praise An incorrect or echolalic response resulted in the trainer stating “No” and proving the appropriate response. If the student then gave the correct response they were praised, otherwise the correct response was provided again A-B-A Design

Data collection –Baseline data was collected for each student for 4 days prior to the intervention –During the intervention responses were recorded as: Correct, Error, Echolalic, or Prompted Correct based on the students responses to initiated greetings –Baseline was reinstated after the intervention A-B-A Design

The Results: –For both students correct responses to social greetings increased during the intervention phase –Echolalic responses to social greetings decreased during the intervention –Student 1decreased echolalic responding from 70% to 21% –Student 2 decreased echolalic to 0% A-B-A Design

The Design: –Allowed for testing the impact of an intervention across subjects –Established functional relationship between time delay procedure and student responses to social greeting Limitations: −The response level in the second baseline was similar to that of the intervention phase (carryover effects). This makes it difficult to establish a functional relationship. −Ethically it was inappropriate to end the study with a baseline phase A-B-A Design

A-B-A-B Design The Study: Parent Reinforcement for Child Achievement: The Use of a Lottery to Maximize Parent Training Effects Research Question: An evaluation of a reinforcement program in which parents received lottery tickets and prizes as their children mastered language skills in a home- based early intervention project

Subjects: –2 girls and 1 boy –Between 2-2 ½ years old –Developmental delays –Language delays (unable to verbalize, imitate, and follow directions) Setting: –In subjects homes (low income areas) A-B-A-B Design

Dependent Variable: –Children’s Responses to various language based tasks Responding to name Waving goodbye Clapping pointing to pictures Receptive language tasks Expressive language tasks (sound imitation, naming objects) A-B-A-B Design

Independent Variable: –Reinforcement through delivery of lottery tickets (exchangeable for prizes) –Reinforcement for parents was contingent upon children demonstrating improvements in language based tasks –Fixed ratio reinforcement was used beginning with FR-1 and gradually being decreased to FR-3 A-B-A-B Design

The Intervention: –At each home visit 3 tasks were assigned to a child based on therapist’s evaluation –The task was to be done at home with the parent –On the following home visit the therapist would evaluate mastery of the task –Each task mastered resulted on a lottery ticket for the parent A-B-A-B Design

Data Collection: –Therapists recorded children’s mastery of language based tasks Results: Mastery of tasks –Subject 1: A1 3 tasks, B1 9 tasks, A2 2 tasks, B2 10 tasks –Subject 2: A1 1 task, B1 9 tasks, A2 7 tasks, B2 0 tasks –Subject 3: A1 1 task, B1 5 tasks, A2 0 tasks, B2 5 tasks A-B-A-B Design

The Design: –By repeating the treatment and baseline the validity of the functional relationship between intervention and target behavior is strengthened –Ending with a treatment phase is ethically more sound Limitations: –Ethical conflict with reinforcing behavior that should already be present (parents putting forth effort to increase their child’s language skills) –Will they maintain maximum effort when the reinforcement is removed? A-B-A-B Design

A-B-A-C Design The Study: Using Guided Compliance Versus Time-out to Promote Child Compliance Research Question: To determine if guided compliance is more effective than time-out in promoting child adherence

Subjects: –5 children (4 male, 1 female) –3-6 years old –Mild developmental delays Setting: –Treatment room with a one-way mirror A-B-A-C Design

Dependent Variable –Child compliance to adult request within 10 seconds of the request Independent variable –Guided compliance technique (physical guidance) –Time-out technique A-B-A-C Design

The intervention: –A request was made in all sessions by calling a child’s name, establishing eye-contact, and issuing a request –Guided compliance phase: if within 10 seconds of a request the child complied verbal praise was given, If the child did not comply the child was physically guided to complete the task –Time-out phase: if within 10 seconds of a request the child complied verbal praise was given, If the child did not comply they were placed in a chair facing the corner for 30 seconds A-B-A-C Design

Data Collection: –Each trial was coded by the pbsever as correct for compliance or incorrect for non-compliance –Subjects were seen individually –Each subject was present with 10 requests Results: Mean percentage of compliance –Baseline: below 41% for all subjects –Time-out: between 85% –Guided Compliance: 59% A-B-A-C Design

The Design: –Allowed for the comparison of two treatments Limitations –In some instances there was no change in compliance rates between baseline and guided compliance –The researcher believe that for some children guided compliance may have only served to maintain the non-compliance A-B-A-C Design

A-B-A-B-A-B Design The Study: Effects of Two-Teacher Rates on Off-Task Behavior, Answering correctly, and Participation Research Question: The study compared the effectiveness of slow-rate presentation and fast-rate presentation on student off-task behavior, answering correctly, and participation

Subjects: –A male and Female student –First grade –Identified by teachers as being poor readers, and off task Setting: –Classroom setting –During daily reading instruction A-B-A-B-A-B Design

Dependent Variable –Off task behavior: disruptive behavior, leaving chair, inappropriate talking –Correct answering: –Participation: responding within 1 second of the teacher’s cue Independent Variables –The level presentation (fast or slow) of the reading program A-B-A-B-A-B Design

The Intervention –The reading program was presented in either the slow-rate (in which there was a delay between students response and presentation of next task) or the fast-rate (presentation of tasks without delay for response) A-B-A-B-A-B Design

Data Collection: –Off task behaviors, participation, and correct responses were recorded Results –Fast-rate presentation decreased off-task behavior and increased participation and correct responses A-B-A-B-A-B Design

The Design: –Treatment phases were repeated three times in order to establish functional relationship –The presentation prior the study was not determined, this means the baseline condition is questionable Limitations: –Using the fast-rate presentation might lead to increased incorrect responses A-B-A-B-A-B Design