THE EFFECTS OF THERAPIST-MEDIATED SIGNALS AND PARTICIPANT-MEDIATED RESPONSES ON THE DELAY TOLERANCE OF TYPICALLY DEVELOPING PRESCHOOL CHILDREN

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to compare the effects of providing a brief versus a continuous signal during delays to reinforcement on preschool children's tolerance of delays and to assess whether children's delay tolerance was differentially affected by caregiver-mediated or child-mediated signals to delay. Three typically developing preschool children who demonstrated sensitivity to magnitude of reinforcement and no tolerance of 5-min delays to reinforcement participated in the current study. Results suggest that brief and continuous caregiver signals, as well as brief participant responses were not effective for enhancing delay tolerance. However, continuous participant responses enhanced delay tolerance for all three participants. That is, providing participants with preferred leisure items during delays to reinforcement increased participants' choice of large, delayed reinforcers.