An Examination of the Effects of Competing Stimuli and Supplemental Procedural Variations in the Treatment of Stereotypy

Document Type

Thesis

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Degree

M.S. Applied Behavior Analysis

Date Completed

Summer 2023

First Committee Member

Roscoe, Eileen M.

Second Committee Member

Peck, Sara

Abstract

It has been suggested that a correlation exists between stereotypic behavior in individuals with autism and deficits in social and communicative skills (Boyd et al., 2012). When levels of environmental stimulation are inadequate, there may be an increase in the occurrence of automatically reinforced behavior, therefore, identifying activities that compete with such problem behavior may be helpful to intervention (Piazza et al., 2000). There are circumstances for which non-contingent access to competing stimuli are insufficient at decreasing automatically maintained behavior and the use of additional procedures may be necessary (Jennett et al., 2011). This study replicated the investigation by Touhey et al. (2021), who examined the effects of supplemental procedures in the treatment of automatically maintained stereotypy; this included the replication of components from previous research on this subject by Jennett et al. (2011) and Hagopian et al. (2020). The pre-treatment analysis consisted of a functional analysis and an augmented competing stimulus assessment (A-CSA). Following the A-CSA, items identified to be effective competing stimuli were used in two modified treatments, rotating competing items (RCI), and prompted engagement (PE). The compared effectiveness of these treatments was determined based on continuous measurements of stereotypy, functional engagement, and item contact. Results concluded that for both participants, the A-CSA identified effective competing stimuli and reliably predicted treatment analysis outcomes, which demonstrated both treatments were sufficient in decreasing stereotypy and increasing functional engagement.

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