Social punishment in the modification of a pre-school child's "autistic-like" behavior with a mother as therapist

Abstract

The mother of a 3-yr-old girl who showed "autistic-like" behavior was cued via an FM wireless microphone systematically to approve and disapprove of her child's behavior. After baselines were taken on two categories of problem behavior (Pre-Academic and Social Behavior), the social contingencies were applied successively to each category. The Pre-Academic task was quickly established in the child when the mother applied these social contingencies. This result was replicated with requests for social interaction. In the final phase, cueing was withdrawn from both situations and the mother was able to maintain the child's improved behavior. An analysis of the mother's behavior suggested that her increased use of social punishment for inappropriate behavior was the key factor in the child's increasing responsiveness. Follow-up seven months later indicated that the improvements maintained.