Search

Identifying successful interventions for persistent and frequent self-injurious behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement can be very challenging. Two treatments that have shown some promise in isolation have been the use of wrist weights, and vibratory stimulation as an alternative means to achieve sensory reinforcement. The current study examined the effects of these interventions separately, and in combination, to address chronic self-injurious behavior in a child with autism and intellectual disability. Although wrist weights resulted in substantial decreases in self-injurious behavior, the combination of wrist weights and vibratory stimulation matching the hypothesized sensory consequences of self-injurious behavior resulted in further decreases. The use of vibratory stimulation that did not match the hypothesized sensory consequences of SIB was not effective at reducing SIB when it was presented alone or in combination with wrist weights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the conceptualization of phobic fear as a multi-factorial response, the measurement and treatment of phobias is often not comprehensive. The extant literature on the treatment of phobias for individuals with intellectual disabilities has exclusively focused on indices of behavioral avoidance. The present study demonstrates the treatment of behavioral avoidance and physiological reactivity in a child diagnosed with autism, intellectual disability, and a dog phobia. The results indicate that the individual often experienced physiological reactivity in the presence of the feared stimulus despite engaging in behavioral approach. Treatment of both behavioral avoidance and physiological reactivity resulted in successful generalization of treatment effects across three additional dogs and maintenance of treatment effects during a six-month follow-up assessment. Implications for examining multiple aspects of the anxious response when treating children with intellectual disabilities and severe language delays are discussed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]