Chapter 23
Conceptual Understanding of Antecedent Interventions
•Literature has classified all antecedent-based behavior change strategies under
single terms
–e.g., antecedent procedures, ________________ _______________,
antecedent manipulations, antecedent interventions
–Using the same terms may cause confusion or failure to recognize the
different functions
•__________ – evoke behavior due to past correlation with increased availability
of reinforcement
•__________ – increase current frequency of behavior when an effective
reinforcer is not available
•Each has different implications for how behavior change strategies should be
__________________ and ___________________
Classifying Functions of Antecedent Stimuli
•Categories for functions of ___________________ stimuli
–Contingency __________________
–Contingency __________________
•Contingency dependent
–Antecedent event is _____________________ on the consequences of
behavior for developing evocative & abative effects
–All stimulus control functions
–Referred to as __________________ _________________
•Contingency independent
–Antecedent event is ______ ___________________ on the
consequences of behavior for developing evocative & abative effects
–Antecedent itself affects behavior-consequence relations
–MOs are contingency independent
–Referred to as ___________________ ____________________
Antecedent Intervention
•Antecedent interventions serve abolishing operations
–Used in ___________________ or in combination (i.e., treatment
packages)
–Decrease the effectiveness of _________________ that maintain
problem behavior
•Effects of MOs are temporary (Smith & Iwata, 1997)
–Will not produce ____________________ improvements in behavior
–Can be used simultaneously to reduce problem behavior
–Most often antecedent interventions serve as a component of treatment
package
•Produce more ___________________ effects
•Interventions with established experimental results
–Noncontingent reinforcement __________
–High-probability _____________ sequence
–Functional communication training _________
Noncontingent Reinforcement
•NCR is an ________________________ intervention
•Stimuli with known ____________________________properties are delivered
on a fixed-time (FT) or variable-time (VT) schedule independent of the learner’s
behavior (Vollmer et al., 1993)
•May effectively ____________________ problem behavior because reinforcers
that maintain the problem behavior are available ___________ & _____________
•Functions as an abolishing operation ________________
•Referred to as presenting stimuli with known reinforcing properties
•Uses three distinct procedures that identify & deliver stimuli with known
reinforcing properties
–____________________ reinforcement
–____________________ reinforcement
–____________________ reinforcement
•NCR with positive reinforcement
–Kahng, Iwata, Thompson, and Hanley (2000)
–Study demonstrated the use of positive reinforcement (i.e., attention &
food) for three individuals with developmental disabilities as an
antecedent intervention to decrease problem behaviors found during
analysis to be maintained by the positive reinforcement
•NCR with negative reinforcement
–Kodak, Miltenberger, and Romaniuk (2003)
–Study demonstrated the use of negative reinforcement (i.e., break from
instructional requests) for two individuals with autism as an antecedent
intervention to decrease problem behaviors found during analysis to be
maintained by negative reinforcement
–Increased participants’ compliance & decreased problem behaviors
•NCR with automatic reinforcement
–Lindberg, Iwata, Roscoe, Worsdell, and Hanley (2003)
–Study demonstrated the use of automatic reinforcement (i.e., physical
manipulation of highly preferred leisure items) for two individuals with
profound mental retardation to decrease SIB found during analysis to be
maintained by automatic reinforcement
–Demonstrated that NCR object manipulation could compete with
automatic reinforcement to reduce SIB
•Using NCR effectively
–Three key elements to enhance effectiveness
•_______________ & _______________ of stimuli with known
reinforcing effectiveness of NCR
•Inclusion of extinction with NCR interventions
•Vary the ______________________ stimuli with NCR
intervention to reduce problems of changing preferences
–Proper utilization of information obtained through FBA
•Correct identification of maintaining contingencies of
reinforcement
•Ringdahl, Vollmer, Borrero, and Connell (2001)
–Study demonstrates the importance of the schedule under which
reinforcement is delivered in NCR
–Similarities between baseline and initial NCR may be ineffective
–Denser reinforcement (than during baseline) during initial NCR ensures
discrepancy & better chances for intervention to be successful
•Ringdahl et al. (2001) suggest three procedures for emphasizing reinforcement
during NCR intervention
–_______________ the delivery of stimuli with known reinforcing
properties
–Use an obviously _______________ schedule of reinforcement at
treatment onset
–Combine _________ with the NCR treatment package
•Time schedules for NCR
–Typically most applications use a _____ _________________
–Also can be done using a VT schedule
–Establishing the _________________ schedule is crucial & can impact
the overall effectiveness of the intervention
–Recommendation is to start with a dense FT or VT schedule
•Can be done __________________
•More effective to base it on the ______________ of occurrences
of problem behavior
•To determine the initial NCR schedule
–Divide the ____________ duration of all baseline sessions by the total
number of _________________ of the problem behavior (during baseline)
–Set the initial interval at or slightly ____________ the quotient
•Thinning the time-based schedules
–Completed by adding small _______ ________________ to the NCR
interval
–Best done after the initial NCR interval has produced _______________
in problem behavior
–Can be accomplished using three procedures
•________________ time increases
•_______________________ time increases
•___________________________time increase or decrease
•Constant time increases
–Increase the FT or VT schedule intervals by using a ______________
____________________ of time
–Decrease the amount of time the individual has access to the SCR stimuli
by a constant _________________ of time
•Proportional time increase
–Increase the FT or VT schedule interval __________________________
•Each time the schedule is increased by the same amount of time
•Session-to-session time increase or decrease
–Use the individual’s _________________________ to change the
schedule interval on a session-to-session basis
•Additional considerations for NCR
–Establish a ______________________ criterion
–Weigh the possible advantages against possible disadvantages before
deciding to utilize _________ with any individual
High-Probability Request Sequence
•Referred to as __________ request sequence
•Delivery of a high-p request sequence involves
–Presentation of a __________ of easy-to-follow requests for which the
individual has a history of compliance (i.e., high-p requests)
–When individual complies with several _________ requests, provide
individual with ___________ request (i.e., low-p)
•Behavioral effects of high-p request sequence suggests the ___________effects
of an AO by
–________________________ the value of reinforcement for noncompliance to low-p requests
–Reducing the ____________________ & self-injury typically associated
with low-p requests
•Provides nonaversive procedure for improving ___________________ by
diminishing escape-maintained problem behaviors
•May ____________________excessive slowness in responding to requests &
increase time used for completing tasks
•Apply the high-p request sequence by
–Selecting __________________________ with which the individual has
a history of compliance
–Present the high-p request sequence ___________________
_____________ requesting the target task (i.e., low-p request)
–Present the low-p request following in the same manner that all high-p
requests were presented
•Engelmann and Colvin (1983)
–One of the first formal descriptions of high-p request sequence
•Field has utilized a variety of terms to refer to this intervention
–_____________________ requests (Horner et al., 1991)
–Pre-task requests (Singer et al., 1987)
–Behavioral _______________________ (Mace & Belfiore, 1990)
–Referred to by most as ___________ __________________ sequence
•Using high-p request sequence effectively
–Select from the _______________ repertoire
–Present requests __________________
–Acknowledge _________________
–Use potent _________________
•Selecting from the current repertoire
–Behaviors selected for the high-p request sequence should be:
•In the learner’s ___________________ repertoire
•Occur with regularity of _______________________
•Have a very ____________ duration of occurrence
•Presenting requests rapidly
–High-p requests should be presented in _____________ succession with
short inter-request intervals
–First low-p request should _____________________ follow reinforcer
for high-p compliance (Davis & Reichle, 1996)
•Acknowledging compliance
–Individual’s compliance should be acknowledged __________________
–Use of ____________
•Use potent reinforcers
–Social praise may ________ be enough to increase compliance if
motivation for escape behavior is high
–Use of _____________________ positive stimuli immediately following
compliance may increase effectiveness of the intervention
Functional Communication Training
•FCT establishes an appropriate __________________________ behavior to
compete with problem behaviors evoked by an EO
•Develops ____________________ behaviors that are sensitive to the EOs (in
contrast to NCR and high-p request sequence)
•Application of DRA
–Develops alternative __________________ ___________________ an
antecedent to diminish problem behavior (Fisher et al., 1998)
•Alternative response produces the _______________________ that has
maintained problem behavior (Durand & Carr, 1992)
•Alternative response can take a variety of forms
–Vocalizations
–____________
–Communication boards
–Words or picture cards
–Vocal _____________ systems
–Gestures
•Carr and Durand (1985) defined FCT as a two-step process
–Completing a functional behavior assessment to identify the stimuli with
known reinforcing properties that maintain problem behavior
–Using those stimuli as reinforcers to develop an alternative behavior to
replace the problem behavior
•Very effective for problem behavior maintained by ___________
___________
•FCT interventions typically
–Involve ________________ behavior change strategies in addition to
teaching the alternative communication response
•Response prompting
•Time-out
•Physical restraint
•Response _________________
•Redirection
•________________________ of problem behavior
•Effective use of FCT includes
–Dense schedules of _________________________
–Decreased use of verbal prompts
–Behavior ____________________ procedures
–Schedule thinning
•Dense schedules of reinforcement
–Alternative _____________________ response should produce the
reinforcers that maintain the problem behavior on a continuous schedule
of reinforcement at first
•Decreased use of verbal prompts
–When the alternative communication response is being taught initially
_______________ ___________________ are often used
–After the response is in the individual’s repertoire the verbal prompts
should be _______________________ and eliminated (if possible)
•Assists in removing any _______________ dependence
•Behavior reduction procedures
–Effectiveness of FCT can be increased with the use of
________________ procedures (in a treatment package to enhance the
reduction of the undesired (problem) behaviors
•__________________ procedure
•__________________ procedure
•Schedule thinning
–___________________ of the schedule on which the established
communication response is reinforced is an __________________ part of
FCT
–Should only be done ___________ the alternative communication
response is firmly in the individual’s repertoire
–Guidelines for schedule thinning are __________ the same as those for
NCR
•Alternative communication response must remain
__________________ to evocative function of the EO to compete
with problem behavior
•_________________ of problem behavior could occur
–Hanley et al. (2001) recommended using a procedure for schedule
thinning
•Used dense FI schedule of reinforcement during initial teaching of
alternative communication response
•After the response is established, gradually thin the FI schedule
•Suggest use of external cues to indicate when reinforcement is
available