The elimination of autistic self-stimulatory behavior by overcorrection.
A few minutes of guided practice right after stereotypy can wipe it out, but newer studies show you can get the same drop with kinder differential reinforcement.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Four children in a day-care program kept mouthing toys, weaving heads, or clapping hands. The team used overcorrection. Each time a child self-stimmed, the adult made the child practice the right way to use hands or mouth for a few minutes.
The practice happened all day, every day, across rooms and teachers.
What they found
Self-stim stopped fast. It stayed near zero for every child all day. The brief practice beat other tricks the teachers had tried before.
How this fits with other research
Foxx (1977) copied the idea for eye contact. The same practice-after-error rule lifted eye contact from 50% to 90%.
Hedquist et al. (2020) later showed you can cut stereotypy without any aversive step. Their DRA gave toys for quiet hands and worked just as well.
Zhou et al. (2023) took a softer road. They taught kids to say “I will wait” and then wait to grab food. Stealing dropped to zero with no punishment at all.
So the 1973 paper is the tough first win. Later studies match the win with kinder tools.
Why it matters
You now have a full menu. If safety is at risk and you need a quick stop, brief overcorrection still works. If you want a gentler plan, use DRA or self-control training instead. Pick the tool that fits your setting, your ethics, and your learner’s needs.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
No method is in general usage and of demonstrated effectiveness in eliminating the self-stimulatory behaviors of retardates and autistics. An Overcorrection rationale was used to develop such a method. The Overcorrection procedures consisted of a period of practice in the correct mode of the behavior contingent upon self-stimulatory behavior. The procedures were applied in a behavioral day-care program to three retarded children and one autistic child who exhibited object-mouthing, hand-mouthing, head-weaving and hand-clapping. For some behaviors, comparisons were made between the Overcorrection procedure and several alternative procedures, such as physical punishment by a slap, reinforcement for nonself-stimulatory behavior, a distasteful solution painted on the hand of a hand-mouther, and free reinforcement. The Overcorrection procedures eliminated the self-stimulatory behaviors of all four children in tutorial sessions and during the entire school day and were more effective than the alternative procedures in eliminating self-stimulation. The Overcorrection procedures appear to be rapid, enduring, and effective methods of eliminating self-stimulatory behavior.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 1973 · doi:10.1901/jaba.1973.6-1