Research: Further Evaluation of the Effects of Motivating Operations on Preference Assessment Outcomes

Authored by Chappell, N., Graff RB, Libby ME, and Ahearn WH in Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, Volume 3, Issue 3, p. 660-669, (2009).

Article summary (posted Sep 7, 2009):

Therapists may need to carefully figure out what may be the best "treat" or reward during behavioral therapy for people with autism.

This study looked at three young men (18-19 years old) with autism. The authors tested 8 food items that could be used as a reward for behavioral therapy. They let the young men have as much of one item as they wanted (free access), and then waited for 0-20 minutes. At that point, the researchers tested whether the young men still wanted more of that type of food. The authors found that it worked best to wait 20 minutes after giving the patients as much reward as they wanted before testing to see if the patients still valued the reward. The authors said that the way the treats are given can affect how well they work in applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy.

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You can access the original abstract and the complete paper is sometimes available for free via Google Scholar (look for entries that say "PDF" or "HTML" on the right side of the page).
adolescent, adults with autism, applied behavior analysis (ABA), assessment, autism, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), evaluation, positive reinforcement, reward, science, therapist, therapy
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