Variable effects of a behavioral treatment package on the performance of inline roller speed skaters.

Anderson et al. (2002) worked with four teen roller-speed-skaters. The team wanted sharper relay-tag hand-offs.

Coaches gave praise, showed a chart of each skater’s tag times, and gave quick cues. They used an ABAB design: baseline, package, back to baseline, package again.

Tags were filmed and timed to the 0.01 second. The second package round happened six months later.

Right away every skater hit more on-time tags. Mean tag error dropped about a large share.

After six months with no feedback, scores slid back near baseline. When the package returned, only two skaters improved again.

In short: quick lift, then fade-out.

Bassette et al. (2023) saw longer-lasting gains when teens with autism ran their own workouts. They added self-management sheets; skills stuck. That study extends Gayla’s package by showing praise-plus-feedback can endure if learners track their own data.

Koegel et al. (1992) also paired praise with videotape feedback for kids with behavior disorders. Both papers show the combo works across sports and classrooms, but neither locked in maintenance without extra steps.

Petscher et al. (2006) found staff token-economy accuracy rose with prompting plus self-monitoring, yet fidelity dipped when prompts stopped. Their fade-out pattern matches the skating fade, hinting that any feedback package needs a built-in maintenance plan.

If you use praise and charts to teach a skill, plan for the day the charts come down. Add self-monitoring, peer checklists, or staggered feedback so gains don’t melt away. One easy move: teach the learner to record their own times and set a daily goal. That five-minute addition can save you from rerun interventions later.