Amanda M. Karsten & James E. Carr. (2009).
The effects of differential reinforcement of unprompted responding
on the skill acquisition of children with autism.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis,
42, 327-334.
The recommendation to reserve the most potent reinforcers for
unprompted responses during acquisition programming has little
published empirical support for its purported benefits (e.g., rapid
acquisition, decreased errors, and decreased prompt dependence).
The purpose of the current investigation was to compare the delivery
of high–quality reinforcers exclusively following unprompted responses
(differential reinforcement) with the delivery of high–quality reinforcers
following both prompted and unprompted responses (nondifferential
reinforcement) on the skill acquisition of 2 children with autism.
Results indicated that both were effective teaching procedures, although
the differential reinforcement procedure was more reliable in producing
skill acquisition. These preliminary findings suggest that the differential
reinforcement of unprompted responses may be the most appropriate
default approach to teaching children with autism.
DESCRIPTORS: autism, differential reinforcement, skill acquisition