Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2011

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

College

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Committee Chair

Claire St. Peter Pipkin.

Abstract

Resurgence of problem behavior following the discontinuation of DRA interventions may be prevented by response-independent reinforcer delivery. In basic research, response-independent reinforcer delivery following DRA prevented resurgence of the initially reinforced response and maintained alternative responding. The present study evaluated if these results were generalizable humans by assessing if fixed-time (FT) reinforcer delivery following DRA would prevent resurgence of problem behavior and maintain appropriate behavior with 4 children with disabilities. For all participants, EXT following DRA produced resurgence of previously reinforced problem behavior and reduced appropriate requesting, but FT reinforcer delivery following DRA did not produce resurgence of problem behavior and maintained appropriate requesting. Thus, fixed-time reinforcer delivery following DRA may prevent resurgence of problem behavior and maintain appropriate behavior in clinical settings.

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