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Treatment of assaultive hair pulling in a multihandicapped youth

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Abstract

The course of treatment for hair pulling in a moderately retarded, visually impaired 9-year-old male is described along with the effectiveness of an ammonia inhalation procedure to eliminate this behavior. However, before discovering this successful procedure, other well-known techniques such as DRO, TO, overcorrection, and shaping all failed. Since rapid treatment effectiveness could be assumed to be the norm, given the operant literature, the extensive course of treatment reported here serves to document that perseverance may also be a necessary component of successful behavior management strategies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Child Diagnostic and Development Clinic, Alfred I. duPont Institute, Box 269, 19899, Wilmington, Delaware

    Wayne Adams

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  1. Wayne Adams
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Additional information

The author wishes to thank Susan Spilka for her assistance in implementing many of the treatment procedures and for data recording. Thanks are also expressed to David Sheslow for his helpful comments on the manuscript.

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Adams, W. Treatment of assaultive hair pulling in a multihandicapped youth. J Autism Dev Disord 10, 335–342 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02408292

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02408292

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