Comparing response blocking and response interruption/redirection on levels of motor stereotypy: Effects of data analysis procedures

DeRosa et al. (2019) compared two ways to stop motor stereotypy in children with autism. One way is response blocking: you gently cover the child's hands when the movement starts. The other way is response interruption and redirection (RIRD): you stop the movement and ask the child to do something else like clap or touch their head.

The team used an alternating-treatments design. Each child had sessions with blocking and sessions with RIRD in random order. They counted stereotypy two ways: only during the free-play minutes, or across the whole session including the time the adult spent giving prompts or blocking.

Both methods lowered stereotypy. When the researchers looked only at free-play minutes, the two methods looked the same. When they counted the whole session, response blocking won. The extra adult contact during RIRD added seconds of potential stereotypy back into the total, so RIRD lost its edge.

In short, the winner depends on how you crunch the numbers.

Grindle et al. (2012) also compared blocking and RIRD and saw no difference. The twist: they only scored free-play minutes, the same slice that made the methods tie in DeRosa’s study. Once DeRosa counted the whole clock, blocking pulled ahead, updating the earlier null result.

Saini et al. (2015) showed that a lighter, one-demand RIRD still works. DeRosa used that slim version, so the comparison stayed fair and current.

Callahan et al. (2023) later wrapped RIRD inside a multiple-schedule package and got big, lasting drops in stereotypy. Their success suggests RIRD can beat blocking when it is paired with clear on/off cues and reinforcement, a step beyond the head-to-head test DeRosa ran.

If your data sheet only looks at free-play windows, you might miss that blocking is actually giving you more bang for the buck across the entire session. Decide up front whether you care about stereotypy during adult interaction or just when hands are off. When you write the treatment plan, state the measurement rule and stick to it so your team isn’t fooled by an apples-to-oranges comparison.