Biomedical subjects

J S Lalli

Publications and source records attributed to J S Lalli.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1997

Noncontingent reinforcement as treatment for severe problem behavior: some procedural variations.

Noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) as a treatment for problem behavior has typically included (a) continuous access to reinforcers at the onset of treatment and (b) extinction. We extended research on NCR by conducting a three-phase preliminary investigation of these components. In Phase 1, a functional analysis showed that the problem behavior of 3 participants with developmental disabilities was maintained by tangible positive reinforcement. In Phase 2, treatment started with the initial NCR interval based on the latency to the first problem behavior during baseline. In Phase 3, treatment consisted of NCR without extinction to determine whether extinction was an essential treatment component. Results showed that the initial NCR schedule based on latency (Phase 2) and NCR without extinction (Phase 3) were effective for reducing rates of problem behavior compared with baseline. Findings are discussed regarding the initial schedule of reinforcement and extinction as components of NCR.

Aggression↗

PubMed1996

Functional analysis and treatment of eye poking with response blocking.

A functional analysis of eye poking by a 4-year-old female with severe disabilities and visual impairments showed that high rates occurred in all conditions. We conducted a series of probes to identify the maintaining variable for eye poking following an undifferentiated functional analysis. Results showed that eye poking decreased only when we interrupted finger-eye contact by blocking the response.

Behavior Therapy↗

PubMed1996

Treatment of multiply controlled problem behavior.

The aggressive behavior of a young boy with developmental delays occurred most frequently following a request to pick up his toys. The request ended a period of play and social interaction. This suggested the presence of multiple establishing operations. The initial treatment consisted of praise, a break, and access to the toys contingent on compliance. Results showed that aggression decreased only when we added social interaction to the break. Findings are discussed regarding treating multiply controlled problem behavior without extinction.

Aggression↗

PubMed1995

Reducing escape behavior and increasing task completion with functional communication training, extinction, and response chaining.

The effects of functional communication training, extinction, and response chaining on 3 subjects' escape-maintained aberrant behavior were evaluated using a multielement design. Functional communication training consisted of teaching subjects a verbal response that was functionally equivalent to their aberrant behavior. Subjects initially were allowed to escape from a task contingent on the trained verbal response. In subsequent treatment phases, escape was contingent on the trained verbal response plus the completion of the specified number of steps in the task (response chaining). The number of steps was increased until a subject completed the task to obtain a break. Results showed that the treatment reduced rates of aberrant behavior and that the chaining procedure was effective in decreasing the availability of escape.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1994

Successful behavioral intervention to treat children who are reluctant to ambulate.

The authors report two patients with marginal ambulation skills whose severe behavioral problems prevented participation in physical therapy. The problem behavior also limited the patients' participation in activities of daily living and social interaction. Because of the risks of loss of ambulation to overall health, an aggressive behavioral intervention was implemented to decrease problem behavior and to increase participation in physical therapy. With the use of the behavioral interventions, the authors demonstrated concomitant increases in compliance to requests to ambulate, distances ambulated, and decreases in the rates of self-injury and aggression.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1993

Teacher use of descriptive analysis data to implement interventions to decrease students' problem behaviors.

We conducted two field studies using a behavioral consultation approach to reduce children's problem behaviors in public school settings. The first study consisted of a descriptive analysis in which the students and their teachers were observed during naturally occurring classroom activities. The results of the descriptive analysis provided hypotheses regarding the operant function of the students' problem behaviors. The hypotheses were tested in the second experiment directly through a modified experimental analysis and indirectly through an evaluation of the treatment effects. The interventions were designed to disrupt the inappropriate response-reinforcer relation by discontinuing contingent reinforcement (i.e., extinction), providing the reinforcer contingent on appropriate play behaviors, and teaching the students verbal skills functionally equivalent to the inappropriate response. The classroom teachers were trained to implement the interventions and conduct the experimental analyses during classroom activities in which the problem behaviors occurred most frequently. The interventions were effective in decreasing the students' problem behaviors while concurrently increasing their appropriate verbal skills.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1991

Functional analysis and treatment of aberrant behavior.

This article reviewed and discussed various methodologies used for the analysis of variables maintaining aberrant behavior. Previous research had succeeded in identifying a wide variety of environmental events which may contribute to an individual's maladaptive responding. These general classes of variables are summarized and presented with relevant examples. We conclude with suggestions for conducting a comprehensive functional analysis using descriptive and experimental methods leading to the development and evaluation of analysis-derived interventions.

Behavior Therapy↗

PubMed1991

Review of research on sight word instruction.

This review of 20 years of literature on sight word instruction for individuals with handicaps identifies several effective procedures. These procedures are described for the two types of learning required in sight word instruction--word recognition and comprehension. Criteria for procedural selection are recommended. Research limitations are critiqued with suggestions provided for further evaluation of sight word instruction.

Education of Persons with Intellectual Disabilitie↗

PubMed1991

Training interactional behaviors of adults with developmental disabilities: a systematic replication and extension.

This study was a replication and extension of research by Foxx, McMorrow, Bittle, and Ness (1986) that assessed generalization effects of a social skills training program on the interactional behavior of adults with developmental disabilities. Target skills were a verbal action or reaction in six skill areas that specifically addressed the participants' skill deficits. In the present study, we trained 5 adult residents of a group home across these six skill areas using the "Sorry" game format and the scoring criteria described by Foxx et al. We extended the results of Foxx et al. by (a) using pretreatment assessment procedures to identify participants' specific skill deficits, (b) training all residents in the natural environment, (c) training participant-participant interactions, (d) training participants to respond to four of the six skill areas through the use of a role-play procedure, and (e) omitting rewards, criterion levels, and self-monitoring. Additionally, the trainer in the present study modeled correct responses only as an error correction procedure during training. Similar to those of Foxx et al., our results indicated that all participants increased their use of the trained interactional behaviors during the generalization assessments in the presence of other trained peers.

Adult↗

PubMed1991

Linking descriptive and experimental analyses in the treatment of bizarre speech.

Descriptive and experimental methods were used to analyze the environmental determinants of an adult's bizarre speech. A descriptive analysis of behavior under natural conditions indicated that bizarre vocalizations occurred most often in the presence of task-related demands and in the absence of adult attention. Further, bizarre speech occurring during tasks was followed frequently by the cessation of task demands by staff or the subject's voluntary disengagement from task-related activities; bizarre speech observed during noninteractional periods (i.e., in the absence of adult attention) was frequently followed by staff attention. The escape and attention hypotheses were tested under analogue conditions. Results of the experimental analysis supported only the attention hypothesis; that is, bizarre speech appeared to function as an attention-producing behavior. The functional analysis data were used to select two different yet functionally equivalent treatments. The first treatment provided the subject with noncontingent scheduled attention. The second intervention taught the subject social language skills in the form of initiation and expansion statements. Both interventions were effective in suppressing maladapted speech. Advantages of linking descriptive and experimental analyses are discussed.

Attention↗

PubMed1989

Comparison of treatments to teach number matching skills to adults with moderate mental retardation.

The effectiveness of the Dial-A-Phone (D-A-P) instructional package plus a least intrusive prompt hierarchy was compared to a least intrusive prompt hierarchy alone for teaching adults with moderate developmental disabilities to match digits of personal phone numbers with digits on a rotary dial telephone. Instructional programs were administered in the context of an alternating treatments design. The dependent variable was the percentage of digits matched independently per session (21 digits per session). Results suggest that although a least intrusive prompt hierarchy alone produced findings similar to the D-A-P plus prompts procedure for one subject, the D-A-P plus prompts package was the most effective in helping both subjects to match digits independently. Strategies for individualizing the D-A-P program were discussed.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed1988

Behavioral momentum in the treatment of noncompliance.

Behavioral momentum refers to the tendency for behavior to persist following a change in environmental conditions. The greater the rate of reinforcement, the greater the behavioral momentum. The intervention for noncompliance consisted of issuing a sequence of commands with which the subject was very likely to comply (i.e., high-probability commands) immediately prior to issuing a low-probability command. In each of five experiments, the high-probability command sequence resulted in a "momentum" of compliant responding that persisted when a low-probability request was issued. Results showed the antecedent high-probability command sequence increased compliance and decreased compliance latency and task duration. "Momentum-like" effects were shown to be distinct from experimenter attention and to depend on the contiguity between the high-probability command sequence and the low-probability command.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Comparison of sight word training procedures with validation of the most practical procedure in teaching reading for daily living.

The effectiveness and efficiency (training trials and training errors through criterion) of stimulus fading, stimulus shaping, time delay, and a feedback only procedure were compared in teaching three adults with moderate developmental delays sight words encountered in activities of daily living. In Experiment 1, the four procedures were assessed during training in a controlled environment to identify the most effective and efficient procedure for each participant. All three adults acquired the target words, and the four procedures were found to be of comparable efficiency in total training sessions, whereas individual differences were found in training errors to criterion. In Experiment 2, the feedback only procedure was used to teach the three participants sight words in community settings. Participants learned new words in the community settings and used the previously trained words in daily living activities. The benefit of conducting a preliminary evaluation of instructional procedures during controlled training is discussed.

Activities of Daily Living↗