Date of Award
6-2007
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Dr. Jim Carr
Second Advisor
Dr. Linda LeBlanc
Third Advisor
Dr. Richard Mallot
Access Setting
Masters Thesis-Open Access
Abstract
The common recommendation to reserve the most potent reinforcers for unprompted responses during acquisition programming, sometimes referred to as differential reinforcement of independent responding, has little published empirical support for its purported benefits (enhanced rate of acquisition, decreased likelihood of errors and prompt dependence). The purpose of the current investigation was to compare the delivery of high-quality reinforcers exclusively following unprompted responses (differential condition) with the delivery of high-quality reinforcers following both prompted and unprompted responses (non-differential condition) on the rate of skill acquisition for two children with autism. Participants were taught multiple· pairs of target skills (picture sequencing, tacting) using a discrete-trial preparation in conjunction with both differential and non-differential teaching procedures. Alternating treatments and reversal designs were used to evaluate the effects of both conditions on the rate of acquisition for each participant. Results demonstrate that the differential reinforcement procedure reliably produced skill acquisition whereas the non-differential reinforcement procedure did not.
Recommended Citation
Karsten, Amanda M., "The Effects of Differential Reinforcement of Unprompted Responding on Skill Acquisition of Children with Autism" (2007). Masters Theses. 4599.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/4599