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Reinforcer Choice as an Antecedent Versus Consequence During Skill Acquisition
Danielle L Gureghian1, Jason C Vladescu2, Rafaella Gashi1
1Garden Academy, West Orange, NJ 07052 USA.
Behavior Analysis in Practice
|July 10, 2020
Summary
Providing choices for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may be more effective after, not before, responding during learning tasks. This strategy can improve learning efficiency for some individuals with ASD.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Psychology
- Developmental Psychology
- Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
Background:
- Choice-making is a common intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
- Limited research exists on the effectiveness of providing choices before versus after responding in skill acquisition.
- Understanding optimal choice delivery is crucial for effective educational strategies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the effectiveness and efficiency of reinforcer choice provided before versus after responding.
- To investigate how the timing of choice presentation impacts learning during acquisition tasks for children with ASD.
Main Methods:
- Evaluated reinforcer choice using untaught targets.
- Choices were presented both prior to and following participant responding.
- Acquisition of targets was measured under both choice conditions.
Main Results:
- Two out of three participants demonstrated faster acquisition of targets when choices were provided after responding (consequence condition).
- Preliminary data suggest that offering choices before responding may not be the most efficient method for all individuals.
Conclusions:
- Providing reinforcer choice after responding may enhance acquisition efficiency for some children with autism spectrum disorder.
- Further research is needed to confirm these findings and explore individual differences in response to choice timing.
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