Work

Treatment Integrity Failures during Timeout from Play

Year: 2020

Type: article

Abstract: Timeout is an effective behavior-reduction strategy with considerable generality. However, little is known about how timeout is implemented under natural conditions, or how errors in implementation impact effectiveness. During Experiment 1, we observed teachers implementing timeout during play to evaluate how frequently the teachers implemented timeout following target behavior (omission errors) and other behaviors (commission errors) for four children. Teachers rarely implemented timeout; thus, omission errors were frequent, but commission errors rarely occurred. During Experiment 2, we used a reversal design to compare timeout implemented with 0% omission integrity, 100% integrity, and the level of omission integrity observed to occur during Experiment 1 for two of the participants. Timeout implemented with reduced-integrity decreased problem behavior relative to baseline, suggesting that infrequent teacher implementation of timeout may have been sufficient to reduce problem behavior.

Source: Behavior Modification

DOI: 10.1177/0145445520935392

Authors: Apral P. Foreman, Claire C. St. Peter, Gabrielle A. Mesches, Nicole Robinson, Lucie M. Romano

Institution: West Virginia University

Language: English

Topic: Behavioral and Psychological Studies

Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: National Institute of General Medical Sciences

Award: West Virginia Clinical and Translational Science Institute: A Statewide Organization Building Research Excellence and Engaging Communities to Improve Health