Comparison of three procedures in reducing self-injurious behavior.
In the present study the effects of withdrawal of food, withdrawal of attention, and the simultaneous withdrawal of food and attention on the rate of self-injurious behavior of three profoundly retarded girls during mealtime were investigated. The two treatments that prevented eating led to a marked reduction of self-injurious behavior. Application of the method allowing continuation of eating (withdrawal of attention) resulted in an increased rate of two subjects' self-injurious behavior and had little effect on the rate of self-injurious behavior of the third. An analysis of the data suggests that contingent interruption of meal consumption can reduce the behavior and that rates of self-injurious behavior vary as a result of reinforcement.
D000293:Adolescent; D001288:Attention; D001521:Behavior Therapy; D002648:Child; D002674:Child, Institutionalized; D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005508:Food Deprivation; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000150:complications*; D012056:Reinforcement, Social; D012057:Reinforcement, Verbal; D012652:Self Mutilation / Q000517:prevention & control*