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Refinements of Functional Communication Training
Sponsor: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Summary
Although treatments for problem behavior, like functional communication training (FCT), can be highly effective in the clinic, changes in the way the FCT is implemented (e.g., when transferring treatment to the home, when teachers implement treatment with poor fidelity) can result in treatment relapse. The goal of this study is to evaluate whether using treatment signals and gradually introducing materials from natural contexts can help mitigate treatment relapse during context changes and poor treatment-integrity scenarios.
Official title: Stimulus Control Refinements of Functional Communication Training
Key Details
Gender
All
Age Range
3 Years - 17 Years
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Enrollment
24
Start Date
2021-05-03
Completion Date
2025-12-31
Last Updated
2024-04-09
Healthy Volunteers
No
Conditions
Interventions
Trad FCT
This intervention emulates a traditional reinforcement schedule-thinning method during FCT in which clinicians program delays to reinforcement without discriminative stimuli (e.g., the child learns that some FCRs result in reinforcement and some do not). By programming reinforcement approximately every 15 s, the rate of reinforcement will be equivalent to mult FCT. During Period 1 of this project, trad FCT served as an appropriate control condition to which mult FCT could be compared.
Mult FCT
This intervention involves correlating discriminative stimuli (e.g., purple and yellow index cards) with times in which reinforcement for the functional communication response (FCR) is and is not available. During Period 1 of this project, this procedure resulted in rapid reduction of destructive behavior and mitigated resurgence and renewal when the discriminative stimuli were used as programmed.
Mult FCT + Stimulus Fading
This condition is similar to mult FCT except that the experimenters will gradually incorporate natural stimuli (e.g., rugs, tables, lamps) into sessions to approximate target settings that may occasion relapse typically without such gradual stimulus fading.
Locations (1)
Children's Specialized Hospital - Rutgers University Center for Autism Research, Education, and Services
Somerset, New Jersey, United States