We propose to study induction as a method of producing improved social interactions between parents and their young severely handicapped children (12 to 72 months) who engage in aberrant or atypical behavior. During the first 3 years of the project, we intend to train at least six families yearly (20 total) to engage in more reinforcing reciprocal interactions. This will be accomplished by first assessing the positive reinforcers for each child and the home situations that are related to both the best and worst behavior displayed by the child. A functional analysis will then be conducted to better confirm the functional relationship between the antecedents and consequences delivered by the parent with ongoing behavior emitted by the child. Following these assessments, children will be taught by their parents to request desired outcomes through functional communication training. We hypothesize that the mands (requests) trained will serve as pivotal responses for improved reciprocal interactions; the mands will induce improved social interactions that, in turn, will replace aberrant and atypical behavior. Further, the changes in social interactions will be durable over time because they provide for ongoing reinforcement to both the child and the parent, and because the intervention will be acceptable to the parent. A fourth year, with reduced direct costs, is requested to permit the long- term analyses for families participating during the third year of the project. In an applied or clinical level, we are proposing to replicate treatment procedures that have been proven successful in controlled settings, but with parents acting as """"""""therapists"""""""" in home settings. On an empirical level, we will evaluate the multiple and durable effects of treatment that have not been addressed in previous studies. On a conceptual level, we will study induction as a basic process underlying response generalization.
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