Reducing Stereotypies for a Student With Deafblindness

• Published in: Journal of visual impairment & blindness Vol. 115; no. 4; pp. 286 - 298
• Main Authors: Singer, Isaac, Ivy, Sarah E., Myers, Sasha
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.07.2021; Sage Publications, Inc; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Behavior Modification; Behavior Problems; Behavior therapy; Blind-deaf; Care and treatment; Children; Contingency Management; Deaf Blind; Methods; Object Manipulation; Pediatric research; Physically disabled students; Preferences; Prevention; Prompting; Psychological aspects; Reinforcement; Reinforcement (Psychology); Risk factors; Severe Intellectual Disability; Stereotyped behavior (Psychiatry); Students with Disabilities; United States; deafblind; reinforcement; prompting; blocking; stereotypy
• ISSN: 0145-482X; 1559-1476
• DOI: 10.1177/0145482X211027502

Introduction: Little is known about the effects of specific behavioral strategies to reduce stereotypy and self-injury for learners with sensory impairments and additional disabilities. Method: A single-subject, multi-treatment withdrawal design was used to test the isolated and combined effects of physical prompting to engage in object manipulation of preferred items, contingent reinforcement, and response blocking on target hand-related stereotypy and object manipulation for one 9-year-old boy with deafblindness and additional disabilities. Results: A functional relation was observed to show that hand-related stereotypy decreased due to prompting and reinforcement of object manipulation. Adding response blocking had inconsistent positive effects on stereotypy, and a functional relation was not observed. Prompting alone did not appear to increase object manipulation until contingent reinforcement was added, and response blocking did not appear to have an additive effect to increase object manipulation. Discussion: Results contradict findings of the replicated study and indicate need for further research, including research carried out in natural environments. Implications for Practitioners: Practitioners can use this research to justify the application of differential reinforcement of incompatible behavior using functional activities that result in meaningful reinforcement for students.