We used a multiple baseline design across skills to evaluate the effects of a program to teach a classroom of children to respond to their name and a group call (i.e., precursors) as well as to peer mediate these precursors to promote compliance with a variety of multistep instructions. Teachers taught these skills via classwide behavior skills…

Although massed-trial instruction, distributed-trial instruction, and task interspersal have been shown to be effective methods of teaching skills to children with autism spectrum disorders, they have not been directly compared. In the current study, we taught 6 children to tact shapes of countries using these methods to determine which would…

The therapeutic workplace is an employment-based abstinence reinforcement intervention for unemployed drug users where trainees receive on-the-job employment skills training in a classroom setting. The study is an extension of prior therapeutic workplace research, which suggested that trainees frequently violated noise standards. Participants…

The current study examined whether monetary incentives could increase engagement and achievement in a job-skills training program for unemployed, homeless, alcohol-dependent adults. Participants (n?=?124) were randomized to a no-reinforcement group (n?=?39), during which access to the training program was provided but no incentives were given; a…

This study assessed the effects of a contingency management (CM) intervention for alcohol consumption in 10 alcohol-dependent participants. An ABCA design was used. Vouchers were provided contingent on results of ethyl glucuronide (EtG) urine tests (an alcohol biomarker with a 2-day detection period) and alcohol breath tests during the C phase.…

This study examined how the amount of effort required to produce a reinforcer influenced subsequent preference for, and strength of, that reinforcer in 7 individuals with intellectual disabilities. Preference assessments identified four moderately preferred stimuli for each participant, and progressive-ratio (PR) analyses indexed reinforcer…

Contingent incentives can reduce substance abuse. Escalating payment schedules, which begin with a small incentive magnitude and progressively increase with meeting the contingency, increase smoking abstinence. Likewise, descending payment schedules can increase cocaine abstinence. The current experiment enrolled smokers without plans to quit in…

Studies that have assessed whether children prefer contingent reinforcement (CR) or noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) have shown that they prefer CR. Preference for CR has, however, been evaluated only under continuous reinforcement (CRF) schedules. The prevalence of intermittent reinforcement (INT) warrants an evaluation of whether preference for…

The current study used Internet-based contingency management (CM) to increase adherence with blood glucose testing to at least 4 times daily. Four teens diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes earned vouchers for submitting blood glucose testing videos over a Web site. Participants submitted a mean of 1.7 and 3.1 blood glucose tests per day during the 2…

Classroom learning opportunities that arrange active engagement in course material and frequent feedback have been shown to enhance students' performance (e.g., Benjamin, 1991; Michael, 1991). Homework assignments are one example of such an opportunity. Recent research on the advantages of homework assignments has raised questions about their…

We evaluated a treatment for elopement maintained by access to stereotypic door play. First, we conducted a functional analysis of elopement that produced undifferentiated results. Next, we conducted an assessment in which we evaluated the relation between elopement and door play. Results suggested a functional relation between the 2 behaviors…

Discovering whether children prefer reinforcement via a contingency or independent of their behavior is important considering the ubiquity of these programmed schedules of reinforcement. The current study evaluated the efficacy of and preference for social interaction within differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) and…

Adults in a therapeutic workplace working on a computerized keyboarding training program earned vouchers for typing correct characters. Typing technique was evaluated on review steps. Participants could pass the review and earn a bonus, or skip the review and proceed with no bonus. Alternatively, participants could continue practicing on the same…

The present study investigated the effects of contingency-specifying rules and a token economy to decrease the latency to comply with academic instructions by a 16-year-old girl with acquired brain injury. Results showed that treatment was successful in reducing academic response latencies. These results replicate previous research in which…

The value of a reinforcer may change based on antecedent events, specifically the behavior of others (Bruzek & Thompson, 2007). In the current study, we examined the effects of manipulating the behavior of the therapist on problem behavior while all dimensions of reinforcement were held constant. Both participants' levels of problem behaviors…