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A Review of Lag Schedules of Reinforcement to Increase Variation in Play Skills for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Catherine B. Moynihan1, Clodagh M. Murray1*, Rasha R. Baruni2, Daniel J. Sheridan2 and Michelle P. Kelly3
  • 1 National University of Ireland Galway, Ireland
  • 2 The New England Center for Children-Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
  • 3 Emirates College for Advanced Education, United Arab Emirates

Introduction Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often display rigidity across multiple behavioral repertoires. Research has found that severity of restricted and repetitive behaviors can predict severity of ASD (Bodfish, Symons, Parker, & Lewis, 2000). This lack of variation can limit the creativity and exploration of individuals with ASD, beginning with play skills in early childhood. Results of studies have found that, compared with typically-developing children, children with ASD engage in very repetitive movements when playing with toys and demonstrate a lack of variation in the toys they play with, often perseverating on one toy or even one part of a toy (Bancroft, Thompson, Peters, Dozier, & Harper, 2016; Wetherby et al., 2004). Increasing variability in the play of children with ASD can provide these children with an alternative to repetitive behavior, as well as enabling them to access a wider range of reinforcement. Variability in responding has been demonstrated to be operant behavior that is sensitive to contingencies of reinforcement (Neuringer, 2002). An emerging body of research has examined the use of lag schedules of reinforcement to increase response variation in individuals with ASD (Wolfe, Slocum, & Kunnavatana, 2014). A lag x schedule is a schedule of reinforcement where x represents the number of prior responses that the current response must differ from before receiving reinforcement (Neuringer, 2002). For example, a lag 1 schedule of reinforcement requires a response to differ from the previous one before reinforcement in delivered, whereas a lag 4 schedule of reinforcement requires a response to differ from the previous four. From previous research, it is unclear what the optimum lag value might be for promoting variation in play behaviors. However, in a computer game format, Murray and Healy (2013) investigated the effect of different lag values on varied sequences of button presses. They demonstrated that higher lag schedules (specifically lag 6 and lag 8 schedules) were more effective in increasing response variability relative to a control condition. No significant differences existed between the control group and the lag 1, 2, or 4 schedules. In light of this finding, a review was conducted into the existing research on lag schedules of reinforcement for increasing variation in the play behaviors of children with ASD. The specific research questions this review seeks to answer are: 1. How effective are lag schedules of reinforcement for increasing variation in play for children with ASD? 2. What lag schedules are being used in the research? Method Only four studies met the criteria for inclusion in this review. Criteria included: (1) participants must be under the age of 18, (2) at least one participant must have a diagnosis of ASD and (3) lag schedules must be used to increase variation in play behaviors. Results The four studies identified all utilized single subject research designs with a total of 15 participants aged between 4 and 12 years (see Table 1). All of the studies incorporated a lag 1 schedule, with two studies also including a lag 2 (Baruni, Rapp, Lipe, & Novotny, 2014; Lang et al, 2014). Participants in all four studies demonstrated increases in variability in play behaviors, though the intervention was not successful for one of the three participants in Bancroft’s (2011) study. Discussion Although the existing research on the use of lag schedules of reinforcement to increase variation in play behaviors for children with ASD is limited, the outcomes are promising. Additional research is necessary to replicate the results of previous studies to further support the use of lag schedules to increase variation in play. The research on lag schedules has focused on the use of lower lag values. This is, in part, due to the difficulty researchers have in monitoring novel responses of increasingly higher lag values. Nevertheless, as demonstrated by Murray & Healy (2013), higher lag values were more effective in increasing response variability than lower lag values. Therefore, future research should investigate methods for implementing higher values of lag schedules through the use of modern technology and computerized measures and compare varied responding under these conditions with that observed with lower values of lag schedules.

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References

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Bancroft, S. L., Thompson, R. H., Peters, L. C., Dozier, C. L., & Harper, A. M. (2016). Behavioral variability in the play of children with autism and their typically developing peers. Behavioral Interventions, 31(2), 107-119. doi:10.1002/bin.1438

Baruni, R. R., Rapp, J. T., Lipe, S. L., & Novotny, M. A. (2014). Using lag schedules to increase toy play variability for children with intellectual disabilities. Behavioral Interventions, 29(1), 21-35. doi:10.1002/bin.1377

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Murray, C., & Healy, O. (2013). Increasing response variability in children with autism spectrum disorder using lag schedules of reinforcement. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 7(11), 1481-1488. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2013.08.004

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Wetherby, A. M., Woods, J., Allen, L., Cleary, J., Dickinson, H., & Lord, C. (2004). Early indicators of autism spectrum disorders in the second year of life. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 34(5), 473-493. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-004-2544-y

Wolfe, K., Slocum, T. A., & Kunnavatana, S. S. (2014). Promoting behavioral variability in individuals with autism spectrum disorders: A literature review. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 29(3), 180-190. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088357614525661

Keywords: variability, Lag schedules, Play skills, autism, response diversity

Conference: 3rd International Conference on Educational Neuroscience, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 11 Mar - 12 Mar, 2018.

Presentation Type: Poster Presentation

Topic: Educational Neuroscience

Citation: Moynihan CB, Murray CM, Baruni RR, Sheridan DJ and Kelly MP (2018). A Review of Lag Schedules of Reinforcement to Increase Variation in Play Skills for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Conference Abstract: 3rd International Conference on Educational Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2018.225.00029

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Received: 25 Feb 2018; Published Online: 14 Dec 2018.

* Correspondence: Dr. Clodagh M Murray, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland, clodagh.murray@nuigalway.ie