Research paper (M.A.) -- Cardinal Stritch College -- Milwaukee, 1969. / A research paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Special Education (Education of Mentally Handicapped). Includes bibliographical references (p. 43-47).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2008. / "Graduate Program in Psychology." Includes bibliographical references (p. 123-128).

Recent studies have shown that nocturnal enuresis can be successfully eliminated by parent-administered training in the home. However, many of the existing training packages contain numerous components which may discourage parents from following all training procedures consistently. In the current study a component analysis was conducted to determine which components were most effective in reducing bedwetting over a 2- month treatment program. Twenty-eight children four to eleven years of age were assigned to one of four groups, with seven children in each group. Children received either (1) Cleanliness training, (2) cleanliness training and hourly awakening, (3) positive practice, or (4) a standard training package. The results indicated that cleanliness training and hourly awakening, and positive practice were more effective components in reducing bedwetting. These findings suggest that further research should attempt to identify those child and parent characteristics that are likely to make one treatment approach more effective than another.

Viewing a seizure as a behavioral chain consisting of a precursor aura phase and a climactic phase has moved researchers to introduce behavioral techniques either singularly or in combination at aura to circumvent seizures. Many of the aura interruption techniques have been shown to be effective in reducing seizure rate, but a systematic examination and application of the technqiues and the additive effects of. combinations have not been explored . The present study examines by way of an A-B-A-B-BC-B-BC single subject design the singular and additive effects of three aura interruption techniques (i.e., startle, shake, and differential reinforcement of other behaviors). The study involved four developmentally disabled adults for which an aura was discerned by way of a self-report measure, and an observable behavior scale. Clients were randomly assigned to one of six aura interruption combination pairs designed to encompass all permutations of the three aura interruption techniques singularly and in combination. Observers (i.e., parents or care home operators) were trained by way of videotapes and role-playing situations on how to detect and record seizure occurrences as well as when and how to introduce the aura interruption technique(s). Results indicate that aura interruption techniques alone are effective in reducing seizure rates below baseline levels and that techniques in combination with others do not produce further reductions in seizure rates.

It has not yet been demonstrated that music can be used therapeutically with profoundly retarded children. One way these children might be helped to respond to music, and therapeutically benefit from it, would be to use operant conditioning in an effort to enhance gross motor activity and then progressively shape responses until more complex behavior patterns are formed. Once these children can respond motorically in the presence of musical stimuli, continuation of responding may be possible by pairing motor activity with musical stimuli. This experiment investigated the effects of operant conditioning and music on the motor activity of profoundly retarded children in an effort to determine the therapeutic usefulness of music with such children.

This study investigated the effects of a shaping program for halter training across 8 steps in the program and 4 trial-terminating, or "undesirable," responses. Three La Mancha goats (Capra hircus) located at the Frank Buck Zoo in Gainesville, Texas were used for the study. A fixed-time 15 s (FT-15 s) was used during the baseline conditions, to examine the effects of response contingent and response-independent food deliveries, as well as to examine what preliminary steps might not necessarily have to be shaped. All 3 goats successfully learned to allow the halter to be placed on them and to lead on the halter, although 2 of the 3 goats required an additional task analysis for the fifth step to further break down that approximation. Several of the early steps selected by the researchers were not necessary to complete the program, as determined by the baseline condition.

Sixteen Nerodia rhombifera were used in each of two experiments investigating operant conditioning of the tongue flicker response. A yoked pair design was utilized throughout phases of baseline, continuous reinforcement, partial reinforcement, and extinction. During partial reinforcement, one-half of the experimental animals were reinforced FR-4 and the other half were reinforced continuously. Control subjects were treated as were their experimental partners, with the exception of noncontingent reinforcement. Statistical comparisons between means for groups during the CRF phase, partial reinforcement phase, and extinction phase were nonsignificant. However, because some snakes in the experimental groups appeared to show increases in response rate during CRF and FR conditions, the possibility exists that modification of task parameters will produce positive results in future research.

The present study sought to alleviate the response cost inefficiency of the behavioral approach to controlling classroom hyperactivity by increasing the observer-student ratio via behavioral-electronic technology. A portable, integrated-circuit, counting and timing device was developed to enable immediate time-sequenced data recording and reinforcing of eight target behaviors by a single observer. A multiple-baseline design, across matched individuals was utilized to demonstrate the reinforcing effects. The results indicated a significant increase over mean baseline frequency in attention-to-task behavior for the group of eight students. It was concluded that by utilizing the behavioral-technological intervention strategy applied in this study, one observer could accurately monitor and reinforce eight students simultaneously and subsequently increase task attentiveness.

Behaving in novel ways is essential to the development of the types of complex performances described by the term creativity, problem solving, and perseverance. Some research suggests that response variability is an operant and a critical component of novel behavior. However, other account of novel behavior may be more parsimonious. Topographical variability has rarely been examined, nor has operant variability with organisms with baselines featuring stereotypic responding. This study examined the effects of a variability-specifying contingency on the cumulative novel responses of undergraduate students. Using the PORTL apparatus, participants interacted with a ball with a single hand. When the variability-specifying contingency was in effect, novel topographies were reinforced. When a reinforce every response condition was implemented, the participants did not emit any novel responses. When variability-specifying contingencies were in effect, novel responses were rarely followed by subsequent novel responses. They were mostly followed by repeated emission of the same topography, or by other previously emitted topographies. Novel responding did not persist long, although the variability-specifying contingency remained in effect and the potential for novel responding was great. The variability-specifying contingency often resulted in stereotypic response chains. Each of these findings call into the question the assertion that variability is an operant and suggests other possible explanations for the observed novelty.

The purpose of this study was to determine if an autistic child who had been nonverbal, and who had a history of failure to make auditory discriminations, would rely on visual cues rather than auditory cues in making speech discriminations. It was hypothesized that she would learn to articulate more correctly those words presented with concomitant visual cues than the ones with visual cues absent.