An Evaluation of Toilet-Training Procedures

Abstract

Although systematic replications of Azrin and Foxx's (1971) procedures have proven extremely effective across a variety of populations and settings, the majority of behavioral toilet- training research has relied on complex multicomponent training packages. Therefore, little is known regarding the effectiveness of individual toilet-training components. In Study 1, we investigated the combined and individual effects of three commonly used components: (a) underwear, (b) a dense schedule of sits on the toilet, and (c) differential reinforcement. When all three components were combined, we observed overall improvements in toileting performance for five of six children. We observed overall improvements for two of four children exposed to only the underwear component. Overall improvements were not observed for any child exposed to only the dense-sit schedule component or to only the differential-reinforcement component. Study 2 was designed to determine whether training components that were ineffective when used in isolation add to treatment efficacy when combined with effective training procedures. The combination of the differential-reinforcement component with the underwear component produced no overall improvements in performance beyond gains observed when underwear was used alone.