Control of hyperactivity by social reinforcement of attending behavior

A Comparison of Preference for Familial, Social and Material Rewards between Hyperactive and Non-hyperactive Boys

Thirty-six boys diagnosed with attentional and hyperactive problems (ADHD) and thirty-six boys without ADHD were interviewed and assessed using a paired comparison technique to determine their preference for seven reinforcement dimensions (parents, friends, teachers, games, television, toys and candy). Both groups did not differ in their stated preference for reward type. Both groups preferred parents most frequently, followed by friends. Toys and candy were preferred least often. The results suggest that in relation to reward preference, ADHD children are similar to those without the ADHD classification. Additionally, some rewards, particularly familial attention, seem to be perceived as more valuable to both groups.

The role of social and material reinforcers in increasing talking of a disadvantaged preschool child

Adult social reinforcement and access to materials in the preschool were made contingent on the verbalizations of a 4-yr-old Negro girl with an extremely low frequency of talking. Though the teachers' social attention was always given immediately for all spontaneous speech, if the child's spontaneous verbalizations were requests for materials, those materials were withheld until she had responded to the teachers' questions about those materials. When she was silent, the teachers withheld their attention and the materials. A high frequency of verbal behavior was quickly established. When both teacher attention and materials were provided only when the child was not verbalizing, the child's frequency of talking immediately decreased. When social attention and materials were again made contingent upon spontaneous speech and answering questions, the child's frequency of talking quickly increased to its previous high level. The content of the child's verbal behavior which increased was primarily a repetition of requests to the teachers with little change noted in the non-request verbalizations, or verbalizations to other children. A further experimental analysis demonstrated that social interaction per se was not the reinforcer which maintained the increased verbalization; rather, for this child, the material reinforcers which accompanied the social interaction appeared to be the effective components of teacher attention.

Collateral social development accompanying reinforcement of outdoor play in a preschool child

A 3-yr-old preschool girl with deficits in both motor and social repertoires was socially reinforced by teachers for use of outdoor play equipment, as a contribution to her motor skills and as a tactic to produce increased social contact with other children. Her use of outdoor play equipment, and various examples of her social interaction with both teachers and children were scored in the course of experimental development and analysis of her rate of equipment use. Equipment use increased greatly under the social reinforcement contingency; certain desirable examples of social interaction with other children showed a collateral development; other examples of adult-oriented development remained constant; and one class of undesirable baby-like behavior decreased markedly. Thus, the study provided a picture of what other behavior changes may take place in the course of behavior modification aimed at a single response class.

Effect of contingent and non-contingent social reinforcement on the cooperative play of a preschool child

The effect of adult social reinforcement on the cooperative play of a five-year old girl in a preschool setting was assessed under two conditions: (1) presented randomly throughout the school day, and (2) presented contingent on cooperative play. Only in the latter condition was a significant change in cooperative play observed.

The effects of contingent music on the intensity of noise in junior high home economics classes

The effects of quiet-contingent music on the general noise levels of four seventh- and eighth-grade classrooms were investigated. Following a baseline procedure, popular radio music was used to reinforce maintenance of noise below an acceptable level of intensity, 70 decibels, in three of the four classes. In the fourth class, a reversal design was used to show that the contingent presentation of the radio music was important to control the noise produced by the students. The teacher was free to engage in instructional activities because data collection and presentation of music were controlled by automatic apparatus.

Psychopharmacological and other treatments in preschool children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: current evidence and practice

OBJECTIVE

This article reviews rational approaches to treating attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in preschool children, including pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatments. Implications for clinical practice are discussed.

DATA SOURCES

We searched MEDLINE, PsychINFO, Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health, Educational Resources Information Center, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects for relevant literature published in English from 1967 to 2007 on preschool ADHD. We also reviewed the references cited in identified reports.

STUDY SELECTION

Studies were reviewed if the sample included at least some children younger than 6 years of age or attending kindergarten, the study participants had a diagnosis of ADHD or equivalent symptoms, received intervention aimed at ADHD symptoms, and included a relevant outcome measure.

DATA EXTRACTION

Studies were reviewed for type of intervention and outcome relevant to ADHD and were rated for the level of evidence for adequacy of the data to inform clinical practice.

CONCLUSIONS

The current level of evidence for adequacy of empirical data to inform clinical practice for short-term treatment of ADHD in preschool children is Level A for methylphenidate and Level B for parent behavior training, child training, and additive-free elimination diet.

Modification of inattentive classroom behavior. Hyperactive children's use of self-recording with teacher guidance

Three hyperactive children participated in a training program designed to teach them how to self-record their behavior in a regular classroom. Subsequently, in the regular classroom, each child was signaled when to record his behavior at intervals of time that were convenient for the teacher. Signaled self-recording produced reductions in inattentive and inappropriate classroom behavior, and increased on-task behavior for all of the children. By using such procedures in the actual classroom setting, it was possible to circumvent generalization difficulties that have been reported in previous studies attempting to modify classroom behavior by using training procedures in a laboratory setting.

EMG and EEG biofeedback training in the treatment of a 10-year-old hyperactive boy with a developmental reading disorder

The serial application of electromyographic (EMG) and sensorimotor (SMR) biofeedback training was attempted with a 10-year-old boy presenting a triad of symptoms: an attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity, developmental reading disorder, and ocular instability. Symptom elimination was achieved, for all three aspects of the triad, following the procedure of first conditioning a decrease in EMG-monitored muscle tension and then conditioning increases in the amplitude of sensorimotor rhythm over the Rolandic cortex. The learned reduction of monitored EMG levels was accompanied by a reduction in the child's motoric activity level to below that which had been achieved by past administration of Ritalin. In addition, the attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity was no longer diagnosable following the EMG biofeedback training. The learned increase in the amplitude of monitored SMR was accompanied by remediation of the developmental reading disorder and the ocular instability. These results remained unchanged, as ascertained by follow-ups conducted over a 24-month period subsequent to the termination of biofeedback training.

Behavioural treatment of hyperactive children

This study reports the value of behavioural treatment of hyperactive children. Twelve children with multiple behavioural problems, including concentration difficulties, were identified and treated during a 3-month period. Six of the children began treatment immediately; the other 6 children received similar treatment but after a delay of between 4 and 6 weeks. Children were seen at the clinic or in the home, depending upon the individual difficulties and geographical distances. Initially the families were seen weekly, but the frequency later was determined by the severity of the problems and the response to treatment. There was a significant improvement in the children's behaviour as reported by the parents, the home visitor, and videotaped recordings. During the initial period of beteen 4 and 6 weeks the treated children improved significantly, whereas the others, as yet untreated, showed no change. As soon as the treatment was introduced to the second group these children's behaviour also improved and to about same extent in 6 weeks as the treated children had in up to 12 weeks' treatment. This interesting observation suggests that a short period of treatment, only 6 weeks, may be sufficient for most children with hyperactivity. This is more feasible with the present-day resources of many departments.

The effects of frontal EMG biofeedback and progressive relaxation upon hyperactivity and its behavioral concomitants

Hyperactive children (N = 15) and nonhyperactive children (N = 15) were compared. Hyperactive children were found to possess significantly higher (p less than .002) muscular tension levels and, in addition, presented more behavioral problems and had lower test scores. Both electromyographic (EMG) biofeedback and progressive relaxation exercises were successful in the significant reduction of muscular tension, hyperactivity, distractability, irritability, impulsivity, explosiveness, aggressivity, and emotionality in hyperactive children. The greatest improvement was seen in the area of "emotionality-aggression" (irritability, explosiveness, impulsivity, low frustration tolerance, aggresion). No differences were seen in the EMG improvement of drug and nondrug hyperactive children; both made progress under these self-control techniques. However, nondrug children made greater improvements in the behavioral area. Both EMG biofeedback and progressive relaxation resulted in improvements on the test scores of hyperactive subjects (Bender-Gestalt, Visual Sequential Memory, Digit Span, Coding). The therapy would appear to be improved by the inclusion of mental relaxation, concentration, meditation, and mind-blanking exercises for mental control.

Effects of social reinforcement for visual attention on classroom learning by disadvantaged preschoolers

To investigate the relationship between visual attention and classroom learning in a disadvantaged preschool population students' attending was experimentally maintained at high levels, using a social reinforcement procedure, and recall of visual and auditory educational materials was examined. Subjects were 16 white children of low income whose mean age was 5.1 yr. and who were students at a Head Start center. A two-group, randomized-blocks design was employed. Reinforcement of attending resulted in greater recall of auditory stimuli by experimental subjects, while a decline was found in recall performance by control subjects. Recall of visual material was not significantly affected by the treatment. Correlations between attending and both auditory and visual recall were statistically significant.

The hyperkinetic child syndrome: the need for reassessment

The dramatic increase in the incidence of hyperkinesis witnessed in recent years constitutes a growing concern for the children so classified. Some relevant issues are discussed in terms of (a) diagnostic practices, (b) treatment practices, and (c) changing views about the nature of the disorder itself. Rather than focusing on the child as a source of the problem (as has typically been the case), future research and practices need to demonstrate a broad-based perspective on the adjustment problems of these children that examines "situational" determinants and institutional policies.

Using preschool materials to modify the language of disadvantaged children

Although language remediation programs have generally been conducted with the use of special materials in structured group settings, traditional preschool practice emphasizes "incidental teaching" incorporated into children's free play. To determine if incidental teaching practices could be effective in improving children's speech, this study investigated the spontaneous speech of 12 disadvantaged children during free-play periods over eight months of a preschool program. Whenever the children selected a preschool play material, they were prompted and required to ask for it, first by name (noun), then by name plus a word that described the material (adjective-noun combination), then by use of a color adjuctive-noun combination, and finally by requesting the material and describing how they were going to use it (compound sentence). As each requirement was made, the children's general use of that aspect of language markedly increased, but little change was noted in the amount or nature of the children's interactions with teachers or their use of a set of materials to which they had free access. This study demonstrates that preschool free-play periods can be powerful "incidental teaching" periods by capitalizing on moments when children seek new play materials.