Establishing conditioned reinforcement for books leads to better academic outcomes. Most of the existing behaviour-analytical research on the establishment of conditioned reinforcement for observing books focuses on 1:1 instruction. This study aims to establish book preferences for a group of neurotypical and neurodivergent toddlers.
Six toddlers who did not demonstrate preference for books during initial assessment participated in the study. The dependent variable of the study was the number of 5-s intervals during which the participants engaged with a book during a 5-min free operant observation. The authors used a changing criterion design to implement three phases of intervention with similar target behaviours but decreasing numbers of prompts.
The participants emitted a higher number of intervals during which they observed books during post-intervention probes. Five of the six participants engaged with books for more than 90% of the 5-min observation during their last probe. Parents of four of the students also reported observing increased duration of book engagement at home.
The study tested the efficacy of a routine-based book conditioning procedure. The findings show that systematically increasing the effort for participants to engage in a book reading activity, paired with social reinforcement, established increased preference for books for all participants.
