Effects of toy removal and number of demands on vocal stereotypy during response interruption and redirection
One-demand RIRD works as well as the long version and saves time.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team asked a simple question: can we make RIRD faster? They tried a one-demand version instead of the usual three.
Three children with autism took part. The adults removed toys at times and used the short RIRD when vocal stereotypy started.
What they found
The single-demand RIRD cut vocal stereotypy for every child. Taking toys away also helped two of the three kids.
In short, less talk still got the job done.
How this fits with other research
Cassella et al. (2011) used the longer, three-demand RIRD and saw the same drop in stereotypy. The new study trims the steps without losing power.
Ahrens et al. (2011) showed that full RIRD can also boost good vocalizations. The 2018 paper did not check that extra gain, so you may still want the longer form if speech growth is the goal.
Horner-Johnson et al. (2002) cut stereotypy by keeping kids busy with active tasks. Both lines agree: keep the learner engaged, whether through fast instructions or brief RIRD.
Why it matters
You can now run RIRD in half the time. One quick instruction plus redirection still lowers vocal stereotypy, so you save minutes each session. Try the short version first; add the full three-step loop only if you also need to build useful speech or if stereotypy returns.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Numerous studies have demonstrated the efficacy of response interruption and redirection (RIRD) for reducing vocal stereotypy in children with autism. However, the procedure can be time-consuming to implement. Results of Saini, Gregory, Uran, and Fantetti (2015) suggested that an abbreviated variation of RIRD was just as effective as the commonly used variation of RIRD, but further research is needed. In addition, no studies have evaluated the role of toy removal on the efficacy of RIRD even though this procedural component is frequently combined with RIRD. We examined the separate and combined effects of RIRD and contingent toy removal when three children with autism were required to respond to one demand versus three demands. One-demand RIRD was effective for all participants, and the contingent removal of toys alone reduced responding for two of three participants. Findings have important implications for treating vocal stereotypy in relevant settings.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 2018 · doi:10.1002/jaba.497