Premium
PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT AS TREATMENT FOR STEREOTYPIC HAND MOUTHING: SENSORY EXTINCTION OR PUNISHMENT EFFECTS?
Author(s) -
Mazaleski Jodi L.,
Iwata Brian A.,
Rodgers Teresa A.,
Vollmer Timothy R.,
Zarcone Jennifer R.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
journal of applied behavior analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1938-3703
pISSN - 0021-8855
DOI - 10.1901/jaba.1994.27-345
Subject(s) - punishment (psychology) , psychology , reinforcement , extinction (optical mineralogy) , developmental psychology , audiology , social psychology , medicine , paleontology , biology
We examined the effects of noncontingent and contingent protective equipment as treatment for self‐injurious hand mouthing exhibited by 2 individuals with profound mental retardation. Results of a functional analysis assessment revealed that neither subject's self‐injury was maintained by social reinforcement: One subject's self‐injury was cyclical in nature; the other's occurred during all assessment conditions but most frequently when left alone. In the noncontingent‐equipment condition, oven mitts were placed on the individual's hands at the beginning of a session and remained on throughout. In the contingent‐equipment condition, the mitts were briefly placed on the individual's hands following occurrences of hand mouthing. For 1 subject, noncontingent mitts produced a large decrease in the rate of hand mouthing and contingent mitts produced similar results following a return to baseline. Hand mouthing was also reduced in the 2nd subject, but this individual was exposed only to the contingent‐equipment condition (i.e., there was no prior history with the noncontingent‐equipment condition). These results suggest either a punishment or a time‐out interpretation rather than an extinction interpretation to account for the behavior‐reducing effects of contingent protective equipment on self‐injury.