ABA Fundamentals

Generalization of response interruption and redirection procedure with vocal stereotypy

Barszcz et al. (2021) · Behavioral Interventions 2021
★ The Verdict

One-step RIRD knocks down vocal stereotypy and moves to new rooms faster than it took to work the first time.

✓ Read this if BCBAs treating vocal stereotypy in clinic or home programs.
✗ Skip if Practitioners working only with motor or automatically reinforced stereotypy.

01Research in Context

01

What this study did

Four children who repeated sounds or words got RIRD in one room.

The team later tested the same kids in a new room to see if the sounds stayed low.

They used two RIRD styles: old three-step and a quicker one-step version.

02

What they found

Both RIRD styles cut the vocal stereotypy for every child.

When the kids moved to the new room, the sounds stayed low right away.

Generalization took only one to three short probes, faster than the first training.

03

How this fits with other research

Saini et al. (2015) already showed one-step RIRD works as well as the old three-step and saves time. Barszcz et al. (2021) now adds that the same quick version also transfers to new rooms faster.

Steinhauser et al. (2021) used DRA plus brief redirection in class and saw stereotypy drop. Barszcz used RIRD instead, yet both teams got fast drops, showing two roads to the same goal.

Davis et al. (1994) warned that extinction effects can fail to spread. Barszcz’s kids generalized without extra work, hinting RIRD may travel better than simple extinction.

04

Why it matters

You can pick the one-step RIRD and expect it to stick in new places almost right away. Plan one short probe in each new room instead of full retraining. This saves you and your learner time while keeping vocal stereotypy low across settings.

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Run a one-step RIRD trial, then probe in the next room for just five minutes—count if stereotypy stays low.

02At a glance

Intervention
extinction
Design
multiple baseline across settings
Sample size
4
Finding
positive

03Original abstract

AbstractThis study used a combined design to evaluate the effects of nonvocal demands on vocal stereotypy in novel locations by implementing a concurrent multiple baseline design across settings, replicated across all participants. Results indicated that both the traditional and modified response interruption and redirection (RIRD) intervention were effective at reducing occurrences of vocal stereotypic behaviors for all four participants. The traditional RIRD intervention initially resulted in a larger decrease of these behaviors than the modified RIRD intervention; however, by the end of the study, the effects of both interventions on occurrences of vocal stereotypic behaviors were similar. Additionally, the effects of the RIRD intervention on occurrences of vocal stereotypic behavior met mastery criteria and generalized across settings for all four participants. The RIRD intervention generalized to the additional setting in less time than it took for the RIRD intervention to be effective in the first setting for all four participants.

Behavioral Interventions, 2021 · doi:10.1002/bin.1814