Using aberrant behaviors as reinforcers for autistic children.

The team worked with autistic children who had lots of hand-flapping and rocking.

They set up a simple choice. Kids could earn tiny candies or earn two minutes of flapping time.

Tasks were things like matching colors. The kids never got both rewards at once.

An ABAB design showed which reward made the kids work faster.

Kids answered more items correctly when they earned flapping time.

Food prizes came in second.

Best part: letting them flap as a reward did not make the flapping worse later.

Fixsen et al. (1972) once said you must stop stereotypy or learning will fail.

Charlop et al. (1990) flip that idea: the same stereotypy can fuel learning if you treat it like a prize.

Ahrens et al. (2011) watched stereotypy stop on its own and warned against quick jumps to intervene.

The two views seem to clash, but they looked at different moments. N et al. watched free play; H et al. ran teaching trials. When work is on the line, brief earned flaps help more than silence.

Ventola et al. (2016) adds a side note: programs that boost social talk can also lower repetitive acts without touching them directly.

You can stop fighting stereotypy during lessons. Let the child trade a correct answer for twenty seconds of rocking or hand-flapping, then right back to work. You get more correct responses and no burst of problem behavior. Try it next time edibles stop working.