USING PRETREATMENT AND POSTTREATMENT ASSESSMENTS TO ENHANCE AND EVALUATE EXISTING TREATMENT PACKAGES

Pretreatment assessment data were used to enhance an existing treatmen t package to reduce aggression and to increase positive social interac tions between a young boy and his peers. Based on the results of pretr eatment assessments, additional reinforcement (differential reinforcem ent of alternative behavior with adult attention) and punishment (perf orming a nonpreferred task during time-out) components were added to a n existing nonresetting differential reinforcement of other behavior ( access to peers unless aggression occurred) plus time-out procedure. A posttreatment component analysis of the additional treatment componen ts indicated that the reinforcement component facilitated positive soc ial interactions and the punishment component suppressed aggression to wards peers.