The analysis and treatment of problem behavior evoked by auditory stimulation
Section snippets
Participant
The participant was a 6.1-year-old boy. At the age of 2 years and 3 months, he received a dual diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder and a Learning Disability by a registered clinical psychologist. He attended a school using applied behavior analysis as treatment for children with autism 5 days per week, for 6 h per day. It was reported by parents and staff that the participant emitted problem behaviors, such as feet stomping, aggravated delayed echolalia and covering his ears when exposed to
Baseline and auditory stimuli assessment
Fig. 1 shows occurrences of disruption, expressed as number of intervals within 1 min sessions, across each of the three playback sources, and four music categories. The A Cappella playback source, produced the highest number of intervals with disruption, such disruption occurring during three of the four musical categories (Disney, pop, TV theme songs). No disruptions were emitted during the classical music category under the A Cappella condition. For all other playback sources, disruption was
Discussion
Noise sensitivity is a widespread issue in the area of developmental disability (Rimland & Edelson, 1995), and the findings of the current research are a potentially important contribution to the limited behavioral literature on auditory stimulation. A number of articles, as well as some preliminary data from functional analyses, have suggested that noise, and certain musical stimuli, may serve as an establishing operation for evoking problem behavior in individuals with developmental
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank the staff at Stepping Stones ABA School, Co. Meath, Ireland for their assistance in the implementation of this study.
References (14)
- et al.
Auditory anomalies in autistic children
Lancet
(1977) - et al.
Analysis of demand conditions associated with stereotypy
Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry
(1987) - et al.
Analysis and treatment of problem behavior evoked by music
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis
(2006) - et al.
Demand related tantrums
Behavior Modification
(1985) - et al.
Analysis and treatment of finger sucking
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis
(2000) - et al.
Emergence: Labeled autistic
(1986) - et al.
The functions of self-injurious behavior: An experimental epidemiological analysis
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis
(1994)