Clinical Report: A Replication of the Analysis of the Reinforcing Properties of Hand Mouthing

Abstract
A reinforcing properties assessment was conducted with five participants with severe to profound intellectual disability to determine whether automatically maintained hand mouthing (as identified through an analogue functional analysis) was more specifically maintained by sensory stimulation to the mouth, hands, or both. Participants were provided free-access to one or two high preference items, and hand mouthing, hand-toy contact, and toy-mouth contact were measured. Results indicated that stimulation to the hand was the predominant reinforcer for all five participants, replicating the findings of Goh et al. (Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 28, 269–283 (1995)), suggesting that subsequent interventions should be tailored to specific maintaining variables.

Source: Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities - September 30, 2014 Category: Disability Source Type: research