SUPPRESSION OF SELF‐STIMULATION: THREE ALTERNATIVE STRATEGIES

Four boys with autistic‐like behavior were treated for self‐stimulatory behavior with three different treatment procedures—time‐out, differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO), and overcorrection. All four boys showed a rapid response to the overcorrection procedure. Three boys demonstrated some evidence of decrement in responding with time‐out. During the DRO procedure, one showed a modest decrease, two showed no change, but one exhibited a consistent increase in responding under this condition. A multiple baseline applied to one of the subjects failed to reveal any generalization of suppression from one setting to another. A strong but not perfect relationship was found between a frequency and a duration measure of self‐stimulation. There was some evidence of negative side effects for one boy during overcorrection and for another during time‐out. None of these negative side effects was enduring. There was also some indirect evidence that overcorrection facilitated appropriate play. 1979 Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior