SUCCESSFUL BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTION TO TREAT CHILDREN WHO ARE RELUCTANT TO AMBULATE

The authors report two patients with marginal ambulation skills whose severe behavioral problems prevented participation in physical therapy . The problem behavior also limited the patients' participation in act ivities of daily living and social interaction. Because of the risks o f loss of ambulation to overall health, an aggressive behavioral inter vention was implemented to decrease problem behavior and to increase p articipation in physical therapy. With the use of the behavioral inter ventions, the authors demonstrated concomitant increases in compliance to requests to ambulate, distances ambulated, and decreases in the ra tes of self-injury and aggression.