Antecedent control of sleep-awakening disruption.

Field et al. (2001) worked with teens who had developmental delays. The teens kept waking up at night.

The team sent in a favorite staff member before the usual wake-up time. The staff gave calm talk and a smile. They used an ABAB design to test if this simple move could stop the night waking.

Night waking dropped to zero when the preferred staff member showed up early. The fix held for nine months after the study ended.

No drugs, no extinction cries—just a friendly face and a few kind words.

Houck et al. (2024) and McHugh et al. (2022) ran the same logic with adults. They let clients pick a favorite mask or gave praise right before a health task. Both groups saw better follow-through, showing the idea works across ages and routines.

Yaw et al. (2014) flipped the coin: they made non-preferred staff fun by pairing them with cool items. T et al. used already-loved staff; Jared built new liking. Together they show you can either use current favorites or create new ones.

Fullana et al. (2007) warn that antecedent tricks can fail. Their high-probability sequence helped only one of three preschoolers. The teen sleep study worked for all, but A et al. remind us to track data and pivot if the antecedent alone is not enough.

You can stop night waking without tough extinction nights. Test who the client likes best. Send that staff in ten minutes before the usual wake-up. Give a soft greeting, stay two minutes, leave. If the data dip, you know the fix is working. If not, follow A et al. and add a consequence plan. Either way, you keep sleep—and staff—intact.