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AN ANALYSIS OF CHOICE MAKING IN THE ASSESSMENT OF YOUNG CHILDREN WITH SEVERE BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS
Author(s) -
Harding Jay W.,
Wacker David P.,
Berg Wendy K.,
Cooper Linda J.,
Asmus Jennifer,
Mlela Kisa,
Muller Jessica
Publication year - 1999
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.1999.32-63
Subject(s) - reinforcement , psychology , differential reinforcement , developmental psychology , presentation (obstetrics) , clinical psychology , social psychology , medicine , radiology
We examined how positive and negative reinforcement influenced time allocation, occurrence of problem behavior, and completion of parent instructions during a concurrent choice assessment with 2 preschool‐aged children who displayed severe problem behavior in their homes. The children were given a series of concurrent choice options that varied availability of parent attention, access to preferred toys, and presentation of parent instructions. The results showed that both children consistently allocated their time to choice areas that included parent attention when no instructions were presented. When parent attention choice areas included the presentation of instructions, the children displayed differential patterns of behavior that appeared to be influenced by the presence or absence of preferred toys. The results extended previous applications of reinforcer assessment procedures by analyzing the relative influence of both positive and negative reinforcement within a concurrent‐operants paradigm.