Premium
TREATMENT OF A RETARDED CHILD'S FAECES SMEARING AND COPROPHAGIC BEHAVIOUR
Author(s) -
FRIEDIN B. D.,
JOHNSON HELENE K.
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
journal of intellectual disability research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.941
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1365-2788
pISSN - 0964-2633
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2788.1979.tb00853.x
Subject(s) - feces , psychology , developmental psychology , biology , microbiology and biotechnology
The daily rearrangement of a profoundly retarded child's routine shower was effective in eliminating his low-frequency faeces smearing and coprophagic behaviour during the late afternoon/early evening part of the day. The effects appeared to generalise such that both types of behaviour were reduced at other times of the day and night. These results are discussed in terms of a social learning framework. A model for analysing the motivations and reinforcing conditions for rectal digging, coprophagy, and smearing faeces is also presented.