Nn. Singh et al., EFFECTS OF THIORIDAZINE AND VISUAL SCREENING ON STEREOTYPY AND SOCIAL-BEHAVIOR IN INDIVIDUALS WITH MENTAL-RETARDATION, Research in developmental disabilities, 14(3), 1993, pp. 163-177
Thioridazine and visual screening procedures are effective in reducing
the stereotypic behaviors of individuals with mental retardation. A d
ouble-blind, placebo-controlled study, using alternating treatments wi
thin a multiple-baseline across subjects design, was conducted to asse
ss the effects of two doses of thioridazine (1.25 and 2.5 mg/kg/day) a
nd visual screening, alone and combined, on stereotypy and social beha
vior of three individuals with profound mental retardation. Functional
analyses did not show demand, alone, social attention, or differentia
l reinforcement conditions to maintain the subjects' stereotypy. Thior
idazine was effective in producing modest reductions in stereotypy and
minor increases in social behavior across subjects. The higher dose o
f thioridazine (2.5 mg/kg/day) was slightly more effective than the lo
wer dose (1.25 mg/kg/day), and thioridazine plus visual screening was
more effective than thioridazine alone. The most effective treatment w
as visual screening when used in the absence of thioridazine. This stu
dy demonstrates a method for assessing the impact of psychopharmacolog
ical and behavioral interventions in individuals for whom a behavioral
treatment cannot be easily derived from a functional analysis of the
maintaining conditions of the target behavior