Self-control in a child with an autism spectrum disorder: effects of delay and magnitude of reinforcement.
Type: article
Abstract: Impulsive choice, or the choice to obtain a smaller reward that can be obtained sooner (SS) over a larger reward that can be obtained later (LL), may be related to problem behavior that can interfere with social, academic, and independent living skills. Self-control choice is defined as the choice to receive a larger reward after a longer period of time over a smaller but more immediate reward. Few strategies have been reported to increase self-control choice. One of the strategies for increasing self-control responding is systematically increasing the delay to the SS reward until response allocation shifts to the LL reward. This effect was demonstrated with adolescents with developmental disabilities (Ragotzy, Blakely, & Poling, 1988). The purpose of this study was to systematically replicate the study conducted by Ragotzy et al, with a child with an Autism Spectrum Disorder as a participant, and using edible items identified as highly preferred using a forced-choice preference assessment (Fisher, Piazza, Bowman, Hagopian, Owens, & Slevin, 1992) as rewards instead of the arbitrary edible stimuli chosen by Ragotzy et al. In addition, self-control responding was evaluated using adjusting and fixed intertrial intervals (ITI) to determine whether or not ITI type affected responding. Results indicated that the participant demonstrated self-control responding when the SS reward was delayed, and response patterns did not differ in regards to the ITI type used.
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7005727756