TEACHING A CHILD WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS TO TOLERATE DELAYED REINFORCEMENT

It is necessary to teach children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) delayed reinforcement skills. The aim of the present case study was to examine the effectiveness of shaping procedure application in order to increase appropriate wait time with a six year old boy diagnosed with ASD. In this study we applied delayed reinforcement protocol, which is based on the shaping procedure. The procedure was applied during discrete trial training, natural environment teaching and in home environment by parents. Baseline data was collected regarding adequate wait time exhibited by a participant in three different sessions, where it was established that average wait time duration was four seconds. In eleven sessions, the child mastered the desired skill. A significant progress was related to the application of the protocol in home environment by the parents and the autonomous use of behavior self-regulation strategies. It is relevant to mention that the alternative activities delivered during the time delay were considered as neutral stimuli and after the application of this protocol, they have become preferred items. We believe that this case studies’ biggest limitation is the need for applying this procedure at all in the context of preparing the child for taking on the desired passive role at school. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0792/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

INCREASING HAIRDRESSING COMPLIANCE WITH A CHILD WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS

The diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) itself can include problems with hyper responsiveness to different sensory stimuli. These difficulties can lead to different maladaptive behavioral manifestations and prevent children diagnosed with ASD from participating in certain activities. The aim of the present case study was to examine the effectiveness of shaping procedure application in order to increase compliance with haircutting with a six year old boy diagnosed with ASD. The procedure used for increasing compliance while getting a haircut was shaping and we divided the intervention into two phases. Phase one involved teaching the participant to tolerate the presence of the hair clipper on his head, while phase two consisted of increasing participant’s toleration of the sound emitted by the hair clipper. Generalization probe involved taking the participant into a hair salon, where he would receive hair grooming performed by a professional hair stylist. The child mastered phase one in 54 trials that were conducted during five sessions and mastered the goal time in phase two in 89 trials that were conducted during four sessions. In conclusion, shaping procedure appears to be an effective and efficient training procedure for teaching skills that are important for future everyday functioning in society of children with ASD, as well as basic hygiene skills, such as hair cutting. Study limitations and future research implications are discussed. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0758/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

6-Month-Old Infants’ Sensitivity to Contingency in a Variant of the Mobile Paradigm With Proximal Stimulation Studied at Fine Temporal Resolution in the Laboratory

Infants’ ability to monitor “sensorimotor contingencies,” i.e., the sensory effects of their own actions, is an important mechanism underlying learning. One method that has been used to investigate this is the “mobile paradigm,” in which a mobile above an infant’s crib is activated by motion of one of the infant’s limbs. Although successfully used in numerous experiments performed in infants’ homes to investigate memory and other types of learning, the paradigm seems less robust for demonstrating sensitivity to sensorimotor contingencies when used in the laboratory. One purpose of the present work was to show that certain changes to the mobile paradigm would make it easier for infants to show their sensitivity to the contingency in the lab. In particular, we used proximal stimulation on infants’ wrists instead of the usual mobile, and our stimulation was coincident with the limbs that caused it. Our stimulation was either on or off, i.e., not modulated by the amount the infant moved. Finally, we used a “shaping” procedure to help the infant discover the contingency. In addition to these changes in the paradigm, by analyzing infants’ limb activity at 10-s resolution instead of the usual 1-min resolution, we were able to show that infants’ sensitivity to the contingency became apparent already within the first minute of establishment of the contingency. Finally, we showed how two alternate measures of sensitivity to contingency based on probability of repeated movements and on “stop and go” motion strategies may be of interest for future work.

Training Petting Zoo Sheep to Act Like Petting Zoo Sheep: An Empirical Evaluation of Response-Independent Schedules and Shaping with Negative Reinforcement

Shaping through differential reinforcement of successive approximations to a target response has been a cornerstone procedure for the training of novel behavior. However, much of how it has traditionally been implemented occurs through informal observation, rather than any direct, systematic measurement. In the present study, we examine the use of response-independent food schedules and shaping for increasing approach and contact behaviors in petting zoo sheep. In Experiment 1, a fixed-time (FT) 15 s food schedule was used to effectively increase approach and contact behaviors in one sheep. In Experiment 2, negative reinforcement in the form of removal of the presence of a trainer was made contingent on the successful completion of approximations within a shaping procedure and later switched to food rewards. A changing-criterion design was used to empirically examine the effects of the shaping procedure during each step of the program. The result is one of the first studies to demonstrate the utility of using negative reinforcement within a shaping procedure to successfully intervene on approach/avoidance behaviors in an applied animal setting.

Ex-Vivo Comparison of Torsional Stress on Nickel–Titanium Instruments Activated by Continuous Rotation or Adaptive Motion

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of adaptive motion applied to conventional nickel-titanium (NiTi) rotary instruments on torsional stress generation during shaping procedure. One hundred and twenty mesio-buccal canals of molars were randomly assigned to two groups according to the kinetics; adaptive motion (AD) and continuous rotation (CR). Each group was divided into four subgroups (n = 15) according to the NiTi instrument systems: HyFlex EDM, One Curve, Twisted File Adaptive, and ProTaper Next. A glide path was established with PathFile #1, for each file group being used with either of the kinetic movements. During the instrumentation with the designated motion and file system, the generated torque was measured via the control unit and acquisition module. Based on the acquired data, the maximum and total torque were calculated. The data were statistically analyzed using Kruskal–Wallis and Mann–Whitney tests at a significance level of 95%. The maximum and total torque generated by all instruments were significantly reduced by the adaptive motion (p < 0.05). In the CR group, HyFlex EDM generated the highest maximum and total stress. In the AD group, HyFlex EDM showed the highest maximum torsional stress, and One Curve showed the highest total torsional stress (p < 0.05). The TF Adaptive instrument with adaptive movement produced the lowest maximum and total torsional stress (p < 0.05). Under the conditions of this study, the use of adaptive motion would be useful to reduce the torsional stress of instrument and root dentin. The reduction of torsional stress through adaptive motion may enhance the durability of instruments and reduce the potential risk of dentinal cracks.

Response Shaping to Improve Food Acceptance for Children with ASD: Effects of Small and Large Food Sets

Background: Food selectivity, characterized by food refusal, limited food repertoire, or preference for certain types of foods, is common among children with ASD. Method: In this study, researchers examined the effects of a response shaping procedure using a large rotating food set and a small constant food set on food acceptance for two boys with ASD. The small set consisted of three foods that were presented during every session; the large set consisted of 15 foods, of which three were presented during each session, in randomly ordered sets. Researchers measured the percentage of correct behaviors and the cumulative number of foods with which participants interacted. Two concurrently operating multiple baseline across behaviors designs were used to assess whether the shaping procedure resulted in increased correct responding compared to baseline conditions, and whether the intervention was differentially effective with large versus small food sets. Results: The procedures were similar in efficiency for one participant, although he ate many more foods in the large set condition. For the other participant, shaping was successful at increasing some acceptance behaviors (e.g., putting food in his mouth) but only the small set resulted in eating a new food. Conclusions: Practitioners should consider use of less restrictive or intrusive interventions to promote food acceptance and the use of larger sets of foods, modified to include fewer foods in the case of poor response to intervention.

Gripping the Gripped: Removal of Foreign Bodies from Root Canal System

Introduction: Presence of foreign body in the root canal system is a troublesome situation as they prevent the access to thorough root canal cleaning and shaping procedure apical to their level. They might also irritate the periapex when they protrude out of the root apex. This affects final outcome of endodontic therapy. Hence an attempt to bypass or retrieval of the foreign body should be made before leaving and obturating till the level of their presence or proceeding to surgery. The procedure for removal will vary depending on the nature of the foreign body and its position within the canal. Many different devices and techniques have been developed to retrieve foreign bodies from the root canal system, but none of them can consistently remove them from the canals. Case Presentation: Three cases requiring removal of foreign bodies from the different positions in the canals are presented. These cases present the conservative management of an inadvertently lodged foreign body in the root canal system during a routine dental procedure and describe the management strategies for their retrieval. Conclusion: Provided one has good patient cooperation, management of the situation can be quite straight forward if the appropriate diagnostic and treatment tools are utilized.

Drinks Like a Fish: The Effects of Ethanol on Associative Learning in Zebrafish (Danio rerio)

The present study sought to elucidate whether neural maturation has a mitigating effect on ethanol and its concomitant effects on memory. Three-month old zebrafish were acclimated to a plus maze using a habituation procedure. After acclimatization to the maze, associations between the red cue cards and reward were formed via a shaping procedure. Following the final shaping day, food was removed from the maze and red cues were only present in one arm. The time it took for the fish to go from the start box to the cued arm was then measured. Afterwards, fish were exposed to 0.00, 0.25, or 0.75% ethanol (v/v) for 72 hours. Post-exposure memory performance was tested at 0.5-day, 5-day, and 14-day endpoints. Three primary findings were noted. First, no significant difference in run time was found within the control group at any time point, suggesting an adept associative memory system in zebrafish. Second, no significant difference in run time was found when comparing 0.25 and 0.75% (v/v) ethanol groups. Therefore, these treatments were pooled for further analyses. Third, the most significant impairment was observed at the 0.5-day post exposure time point indicating that ethanol has a significant impact on recently learned associations. Finally, no significant difference in run time was observed within the pooled treatment group on subsequent time points. This capacity for recovery was a key difference from what was observed in previous studies.