Advisor(s)

Hanna C. (Hanna Christian) Rue

Contributor(s)

Karen E. Gould, Mary-Elisabeth Hannah

Date of Award

2011

Date Accepted

4-2011

Degree Grantor

Northeastern University

Degree Level

M.S.

Degree Name

Master of Applied Behavior Analysis

Department or Academic Unit

Bouvé College of Health Sciences. Department of Counseling and Applied Educational Psychology.

Keywords

counseling psychology, behavioral sciences, educational psychology, autism spectrum disorder, escape extinction, food refusal, food selectivity, positive reinforcement, systematic fading

Subject Categories

Food preferences, Nutrition - Psychological aspects

Disciplines

Health Psychology

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to systematically replicate and extend the procedures of Kern and Marder (1996) using simultaneous and sequential presentations of preferred and nonpreferred foods. Systematic fading procedures were evaluated to decrease the amount of preferred foods and increase the amount of nonpreferred foods presented. The participants were two 16-year-old males diagnosed with autism that had a history of food selectivity. In the simultaneous presentation, preferred foods were presented at the same time as nonpreferred foods. In the sequential presentation, acceptance of the nonpreferred food resulted in the presentation of the preferred food. Results were evaluated using an alternating treatments design to compare the two interventions (simultaneous presentation vs. sequential presentation). Increases in consumption occurred immediately in the simultaneous and sequential presentations for Participant 1 and in the sequential presentation for Participant 2. Additional treatment interventions were evaluated for Participant 2 in the simultaneous presentation because consumption did not increase.

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Rights Holder

Shannon C. Garvey


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