Sensory extinction: a procedure form eliminating self-stimulatory behavior in developmentally disabled children

Area of Science:

• Behavioral Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Self-stimulatory behavior (SSB) is common in developmental disorders.
• The role of sensory consequences in maintaining SSB is not fully understood.
• Existing treatments for SSB have limitations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the role of sensory reinforcement in motivating self-stimulation.
• To introduce and assess the efficacy of a novel procedure, Sensory Extinction.
• To determine if self-stimulation is operant behavior maintained by sensory reinforcement.

Main Methods:

• A new procedure, Sensory Extinction, was developed to mask or remove sensory consequences.
• The effectiveness of Sensory Extinction was evaluated using a reversal design.
• The study involved three autistic children exhibiting self-stimulatory behaviors.

Main Results:

• Self-stimulation reliably extinguished when sensory consequences were removed and increased when they were permitted.
• This effect was replicable within and across participants.
• Different Sensory Extinction procedures were necessary for different self-stimulatory behaviors, indicating idiosyncratic sensory reinforcers.

Conclusions:

• Sensory Extinction is an effective method for reducing self-stimulatory behaviors by targeting sensory reinforcement.
• The findings support the operant nature of self-stimulation maintained by sensory consequences.
• Sensory Extinction offers a potentially convenient and rapid treatment alternative for self-stimulation and other deviant behaviors.