Reducing Self-Injurious Behavior of Severely Retarded Individuals through Withdrawal of Reinforcement Procedures

Abstract

Self-injurious behavior is a serious problem among some of the profoundly and severely retarded. In Experiment I a retarded male was exposed to a contingent withdrawal of reinforcement procedure in an attempt to suppress his self-abusive behavior. Vibratory stimulation was used as the reinforcer. In Experiment II differential reinforcement of other behavior and contingent withdrawal of vibration were used to decrease the self-injurious behavior of a retarded girl. The results of both experiments indicated that vibratory stimulation can serve as an effective reinforcer for severely retarded individuals, and the contingent withdrawal of reinforcement can produce response suppression similar to that found under an application of aversive stimulus procedure.