David is a 4-year-old boy with autism who is living in the H…
David is a 4-year-old boy with autism who is living in the Hasselhoff Institute, an in-patient medical facility for children with severe behavior problems. During the day, the children engage in recreational activities in a large ward room. There are usually only 3-4 staff members in the room each day to serve 12 children. David is extremely aggressive towards the other children on the ward; often kicking, biting, and scratching the other child until a staff member comes over and restrains him. Based on your functional assessment, you have determined that no one child is targeted more than another and that David is most aggressive when a staff member has not interacted with him for at least 5 minutes. When he is aggressive, David is typically restrained for at least 5 minutes and then closely watched for another 10. Once he is in restraint, David calms down, and will often lay his head on the shoulder of the staff member holding him. He remains calm for the entire length of restraint, and when he is released he stays close to the staff member who restrained him. The staff member usually will hold David’s hand or play with him for a few minutes following restraint until another child requires care. Now presume staff want to use differential reinforcement with David. Every time he goes 10 minutes without being aggressive -no matter what else he was doing- a staff member will go over to David and talk with him for a few seconds while also giving him a back rub. Which procedure is the staff using now?
Read Details