Date of Award:

12-2023

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling

Committee Chair(s)

Tim Slocum

Committee

Tim Slocum

Committee

Amy Odum

Committee

Audrey Hoffman

Abstract

Behavior interventions often utilize rewards to increase appropriate behavior. Current methods for identifying potential rewards only use immediately available items, however rewards in school or clinic settings are often delayed due to circumstance. Delay can decrease the value of a preferred stimuli. We propose and evaluate a method for considering delay to delivery of a preferred item when selecting a potential reward by asking children 8-11 to pick between a moderately preferred item immediately available or a highly preferred item that was delayed. 4 out of 5 participants increased selection for the moderately preferred item as delays to the highly preferred item increased. This indicates that delay is an important parameter that should be considered when selecting rewards for behavior interventions.

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