Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior (DRO)
Study: Flood & Wilder (2004)

Describe how students were selected to participate in the study:

Participant was selected based on his diagnoses of Separation Anxiety Disorder and Attention Deficit Disorder, Inattentive type.

Describe how students were identified as being at risk for academic failure (AI) or as having emotional/behavioral difficulties (BI):

The participant was reported to meet all DSM-IV (American Psychiatric Association, 1994) criteria for both diagnoses and was reported to engage in crying, screaming, and pleading upon mention of a separation from a parent, which was deemed to be age-inappropriate.

ACADEMIC INTERVENTION: What percentage of participants were at risk, as measured by one or more of the following criteria:

• below the 30th percentile on local or national norm, or
• identified disability related to the focus of the intervention?

%

BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTION: What percentage of participants were at risk, as measured by one or more of the following criteria:

• emotional disability label,
• placed in an alternative school/classroom,
• non-responsive to Tiers 1 and 2, or
• designation of severe problem behaviors on a validated scale or through observation?

%

Please describe the study design:

A changing-criterion design was used to evaluate the effects of DRO on latency to screaming, crying, or requesting one or both parents. The DRO interval duration served as the changing criterion and was gradually increased across sessions.

Clarify and provide a detailed description of the treatment in the submitted program/intervention:

A verbal paired stimulus preference assessment was conducted to identify preferred items and activities. Three items were identified and used as rewards in the DRO procedure: 30 min access to video games, a small piece of candy, and a coupon that could be exchanged for a gift certificate at a local toy store. During each session, the goal DRO interval duration was proposed by the experimenter and the participant had the opportunity to negotiate (however, the participant always accepted the proposed goal). Once a goal duration was decided upon, the participant, the experimenter, and the participant’s mother entered the therapy room. The experimenter read a script detailing the contract: if participant did not exhibit crying, whining, asking for his mother or father, or other emotional behavior during the pre-determined interval, he would get access to his preferred items immediately after the session ended. The script also described what would happen if target behaviors did occur. Sessions began when the participant’s mother left the room. A timer was set to count down the time remaining in the session and was placed in the participant’s view. During sessions, the participant worked on math facts that were usually part of his homework. A session ended when the participant engaged in target behaviors or when the predetermined session duration was met. When the participant did engage in target behaviors, the participant’s mother was contacted and asked to return, and the participant did not receive access to any of his preferred items. If the participant did not engage in target behaviors, he received access to all of his preferred items immediately after the session ended. A minimum of wo consecutive successful sessions at the previous goal level was required before the goal was increased. When goals were increased, they were usually doubled.

Clarify what procedures occurred during the control/baseline condition (third, competing conditions are not considered; if you have a third, competing condition [e.g., multi-element single subject design with a third comparison condition], in addition to your control condition, identify what the competing condition is [data from this competing condition will not be used]):

During baseline, the participant and participant’s mother would be escorted into the therapy room and left there. The mother then told the participant she had something to do, and that she would be back soon. Then she attempted to leave the room. When the participant engaged in target behaviors, his mother remained in the room and consoled him (e.g., told him she was “right here”) until target behaviors ceased.

Please describe how replication of treatment effect was demonstrated (e.g., reversal or withdrawal of intervention, across participants, across settings)

Each time the criterion level was changed (increased or decreased), there was a concomitant change in the dependent variable (emotional behavior).

Please indicate whether (and how) the design contains at least three demonstrations of experimental control (e.g., ABAB design, multiple baseline across three or more participants).

The design contained at least three demonstrations of experimental control between adjacent conditions (baseline and first criterion) and adjacent criterion conditions. The design included one condition in which criterion was decreased to control for maturation.

If the study is a multiple baseline, is it concurrent or non-concurrent?

N/A

How was the program delivered?

Individually
Small Group
Classroom

Study measures are classified as targeted, broader, or administrative data according to the following definitions:

• Targeted measures
  Assess outcomes, such as competencies or skills, that the program was directly targeted to improve.
  • In the academic domain, targeted measures typically are not the very items taught but rather novel items structured similarly to the content addressed in the program. For example, if a program taught word-attack skills, a targeted measure would be decoding of pseudo words. If a program taught comprehension of cause-effect passages, a targeted measure would be answering questions about cause-effect passages structured similarly to those used during intervention, but not including the very passages used for intervention.
  • In the behavioral domain, targeted measures evaluate aspects of external or internal behavior the program was directly targeted to improve and are operationally defined.
• Broader measures
  Assess outcomes that are related to the competencies or skills targeted by the program but not directly taught in the program.
  • In the academic domain, if a program taught word-level reading skill, a broader measure would be answering questions about passages the student reads. If a program taught calculation skill, a broader measure would be solving word problems that require the same kinds of calculation skill taught in the program.
  • In the behavioral domain, if a program taught a specific skill like on-task behavior in one classroom, a broader measure would be on-task behavior in another setting.
• Administrative data measures apply only to behavioral intervention tools and are measures such as office discipline referrals (ODRs) and graduation rates, which do not have psychometric properties as do other, more traditional targeted or broader measures.

If you have excluded a variable or data that are reported in the study being submitted, explain the rationale for exclusion:

Mother’s distance from the participant was also graphed, but has been excluded from this report because it was a measure of the mother’s behavior rather than the participant’s behavior.