Developing stimulus control of the high-rate social-approach responses of an adult with mental retardation: a multiple-schedule evaluation.

Hilton et al. (2010) worked with one adult who had an intellectual disability. The man pestered staff for attention almost every minute.

The team put the attention on a multiple schedule. A black lanyard meant “no attention now.” No lanyard meant “attention available.” They slowly made the lanyard periods longer.

When the lanyard was on, approaches dropped fast. When it was off, the man still asked nicely.

The staff could stretch the no-attention periods from minutes to half an hour without problem behavior returning.

Capio et al. (2013) ran the same logic with four kids who had Angelman syndrome. They used a red card instead of a lanyard. The card cut social approaches by half, just like the lanyard did.

Niedfeld et al. (2020) tried red- and green-cards with teens in a lock-up. The red card held off loud vocalizations for 30 minutes. Together these studies show the trick works across ages, settings, and topographies.

Reid et al. (2005) added a twist: after preschoolers learned the cue, the teachers removed it. The kids still waited for the right moment. That follow-up step has not yet been tested with the lanyard method, so keep an eye out.

You can shrink attention-seeking that eats your session time. Pick any clear cue—card, lanyard, bracelet. Show it during extinction, remove it when attention is free, and thin the extinction stretch. One adult, one session, and you may see the same fast drop L et al. saw.