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Biomedical subjects

G Dunlap

Publications and source records attributed to G Dunlap.

27 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1987

Maintaining performance of autistic clients in community settings with delayed contingencies.

To facilitate the classroom and workshop integration of three autistic clients, we examined the feasibility of teaching them to respond appropriately without the continual presence of specially trained treatment providers. Within a multiple baseline design, a 4-step treatment process was implemented to promote durable responsive performance. Results indicated that the therapist could be removed from the treatment environment and that appropriate behavior could be successfully maintained in community settings with only infrequent and delayed contingencies.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Increasing the independent responding of autistic children with unpredictable supervision.

We investigated the role of predictable versus unpredictable supervision on the independent task responding of three autistic children. In a predictable supervision condition, the therapist was present in the setting for a regular period of time and then was absent for the remainder of the session. In an unpredictable supervision condition, the therapist's presence was scheduled on a random, intermittent, and unpredictable basis throughout the session. The multiple baseline analysis showed that the unpredictable supervision produced much higher levels of on-task responding during the therapist's absence for all three children. Analysis of work completed during the therapist's absence also favored the unpredictable supervision condition. The results are discussed in relation to the literature on generalization and educational practice.

Autistic Disorder↗
PubMed1984

The influence of vigorous versus mild exercise on autistic stereotyped behaviors.

A major problem encountered in many autistic children is their high rate of stereotypic behavior, which has been shown to interfere with on-task responding and other appropriate behaviors. Since the experimental literature indicates that physical exercise can positively influence both appropriate and inappropriate behaviors, including the children's stereotypic behaviors, the purpose of this study was to investigate whether the specific type of exercise (i.e., mild vs. vigorous) would differentially affect subsequent stereotyped behaviors. The results demonstrated that (1) 15 minutes of mild exercise (ball playing) had little or no influence on the children's subsequent stereotyped responding, and (2) 15 minutes of continuous and vigorous exercise (jogging) was always followed by reductions in stereotyped behaviors. These results are discussed in relation to cognitive, physiological, and educational implications.

Autistic Disorder↗
PubMed1984

The influence of task variation and maintenance tasks on the learning and affect of autistic children.

Analyses of autistic children's learning and affect have begun to consider the role of antecedent variables, including the manner with which tasks are sequenced within instructional sessions. Within the context of a simultaneous-treatments design, this experiment evaluated autistic children's affect and rate of task acquisition under three experimental conditions. The conditions were (1) a constant task condition in which only one acquisition task was presented per session; (2) a varied-acquisition-task condition, in which 10 acquisition tasks were randomly interspersed throughout each session; and (3) a varied-with-maintenance-task condition, which randomly interspersed 5 acquisition tasks and 5 which had been previously acquired. The results showed significantly more efficient learning under the varied-maintenance condition, with no consistent differences separating the other two conditions. In addition, observers' ratings of the children's affect showed that the most positive judgments were produced by the varied-maintenance condition. The varied-acquisition condition was next while the constant task condition always produced the least favorable ratings. These findings are discussed in relation to the literature on massed versus distributed practice, stimulus variation, and success-induced motivation. The implications for upgrading the treatment and education of handicapped children are also reviewed.

Attention↗
PubMed1983

Autistic self-stimulation and intertrial interval duration.

The relationship of short vs. long intertrial intervals to autistic children's correct responding and autistic self-stimulatory behavior was examined. Measures were also obtained on the children's other types of self-stimulatory behavior during all conditions of the experiment. The results showed that: (a) for any given child/task combination, short intertrial intervals produced decreased levels of autistic self-stimulatory responding, (b) increased levels of correct responding occurred during the short intertrial interval conditions, and (c) the category of "other" self-stimulatory behavior was not systematically related to either correct responding or to the length of the intertrial interval. These results were discussed in terms of their implications for understanding self-stimulatory behavior and for teaching autistic children.

Autistic Disorder↗
PubMed1980

Motivating autistic children through stimulus variation.

This study evaluated the differential effectiveness of two methods of presenting discrimination tasks when teaching autistic children. In a constant task condition, the common method of presenting a single task throughout a session was used. In a varied task condition, the same task was interspersed with a variety of other tasks from the children's clinic curricula. Results showed declining trends in correct responding during the constant task condition, with substantially improved and stable responding during the varied task conditions. In addition, naive observers judged the children to be more enthusiastic, interested, happier, and better behaved during the varied task sessions. These results suggest that "boredom" may be a particularly important variable to control in the treatment of autistic children, and that particular care may be necessary when defining criteria for task acquisition. The results are discussed in relation to the literature on increased responsivity to stimulus novelty and variation.

Affect↗
PubMed1980

Intertrial interval duration and learning in autistic children.

This study investigated the influence of intertrial interval duration on the performance of autistic children during teaching situations. The children were taught under the same conditions existing in their regular programs, except that the length of time between trials was systematically manipulated. With both multiple baseline and repeated reversal designs, two lengths of intertrial interval were employed; short intervals with the SD for any given trial presented approximately one second following the reinforcer for the previous trial versus long intervals with the SD presented four or more seconds following the reinforcer for the previous trial. The results showed that: (1) the short intertrial intervals always produced higher levels of correct responding than the long intervals; and (2) there were improving trends in performance and rapid acquisition with the short intertrial intervals, in contrast to minimal or no change with the long intervals. The results are discussed in terms of utilizing information about child and task characteristics in terms of selecting optimal intervals. The data suggest that manipulations made between trials have a large influence on autistic children's learning.

Attention↗
PubMed1974

Increasing spontaneous play by suppressing self-stimulation in autistic children.

Appropriate play with toys was studied in two autistic children with high occurrences of self-stimulatory behavior. Each child participated in the experimental sessions in an A-B-A design, where "A" refers to baseline sessions and "B" refers to self-stimulation suppression sessions. It was found that: (a) during the baseline sessions, the children exhibited low levels of play and high levels of self-stimulatory behavior; (b) the per cent of unreinforced, spontaneous, appropriate play increased when self-stimulatory behavior was suppressed; and (c) when the suppression of self-stimulation was discontinued, the per cent of self-stimulation and that of appropriate play approached their presuppression levels. These results seem particularly significant because they identify a set of conditions under which spontaneous appropriate behavior, uncommon in autistic children, occurs at an increased level.

Autistic Disorder↗