Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis · 2015 · 20 citations · 5 references
EducationBehavioral SciencesPsychologyAutism Spectrum DisordersBehavioral DisordersSchedulingBehavior TherapyOperant ConditioningPractice SchedulesWork ConditioningWork SchedulesWork SchedulingContinuous Reinforcement SchedulesIntermittent Reinforcement SchedulesSession Duration AnalysisWork Schedule Design
This study investigated performance under and preference for continuous and discontinuous work-reinforcer schedules in 3 students who had been diagnosed with autism. Under continuous schedules, participants completed all work and consumed all reinforcers in contiguous units. Under discontinuous schedules, work and reinforcer access were broken up into smaller units. During the alternating-schedules phase, session duration was shorter in the continuous schedule for 2 participants. During free choice, all 3 participants preferred the continuous work schedule.
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