Descriptive Analyses of Caregiver Reprimands

Author/Creator ORCID

Date

2005-08

Department

Program

Citation of Original Publication

Solman, Kimberly N.; Vollmer, Timothy R.; Cotnoir, Nicole M.; Borrero, Carrie S.W.; Borrero, John C.; Samaha, Andrew L.; Peter, Claire C. St.; Descriptive Analyses of Caregiver Reprimands; Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis 38(3): 373–383 (2005); https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1226170/

Rights

This item is likely protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Unless on a Creative Commons license, for uses protected by Copyright Law, contact the copyright holder or the author.

Abstract

We conducted descriptive observations of 5 individuals with developmental disabilities and severe problem behavior while they interacted with their caregivers in either simulated environments (an inpatient hospital facility) or in their homes. The focus of the study was on caregiver reprimands and child problem behavior. Thus, we compared the frequency of problem behavior that immediately preceded a caregiver reprimand to that immediately following a caregiver reprimand, and the results showed that the frequency of problem behavior decreased following a reprimand. It is possible that caregiver reprimands are negatively reinforced by the momentary attenuation of problem behavior, and the implications for long- and short-term effects on caregiver behavior are discussed.