Reactive aggressive children experience social encoding and interpretation difficulties. Such deficits increase the likelihood that reactive aggressive children perceive the actions of others as provocative and respond in an aggressive manner. Errorless priming was developed as a proactive and success-focused treatment for an 8-year-old boy demonstrating severe reactive aggression (RA). Observations of the child revealed several antecedents that immediately preceded his aggression. This information enabled prediction of aggressive outbursts and development of an intervention that involved providing the child with preparatory information (i.e., priming statements) to moderate his reaction to upcoming stressors. As is characteristic of errorless approaches, a graduated hierarchy was used to systematically fade priming statements. Following treatment, the child was able to tolerate, without problem behavior, antecedent conditions that he found challenging prior to treatment. Errorless priming may have broad potential as a brief and time-efficient intervention for RA.
Brown, K., Atkins, M.S., Osborne, M.L., & Milnamow, M. (1996). A revised teacher scale for reactive and proactive aggression. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 24, 473-480.
2.
Coie, J.D., Dodge, K.A., Terry, R., & Wright, V. (1991). The role of aggression in peer relations: An analysis of aggression episodes in boy's play groups. Child Development , 62, 812-826.
3.
Cox, R., & Gunn, W. (1980). Interpersonal skills in the schools: Assessment and curriculum development. In D. Rahjen & J. Foreyt (Eds.), Social competence: Interventions for children and adults (pp. 113-132). New York: Pergamon.
4.
Crick, N.R., & Dodge, K.A. (1994). A review and reformulation of social information-processing mechanisms in children's social adjustment. Psychological Bulletin, 115, 74-101.
5.
Crick, N.R., & Dodge, K.A. (1996). Social information-processing mechanisms in reactive and proactive aggression. Child Development, 67, 993-1002.
6.
Dodge, K.A. (1980). Social cognition and children's aggressive behavior . Child Development, 51, 162-170.
7.
Dodge, K.A., & Coie, J.D. (1987). Social information processing factors in reactive and proactive aggression in children's peer groups. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 1146-1158.
8.
Dodge, K.A., & Frame, C.L. (1982). Social cognitive biases and deficits in aggressive boys. Child Development, 53, 630-635.
9.
Dodge, K.A., Lochman, J.E., Harnishm, J.D., Bates, J.E., & Pettit, G.S. (1997). Reactive and proactive aggression in school children and psychiatrically impaired chronically assaultive youth. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 106, 37-51.
10.
Ducharme, J.M. (1999). A conceptual model for treatment of externalizing behavior in acquired brain injury. Brain Injury, 13(9), 645-668.
11.
Ducharme, J.M., Atkinson, L., & Poulton, L. (2000). Success-based, non-coercive treatment of oppositional behavior in children from violent homes. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 39, 995-1004.
12.
Ducharme, J.M., & Drain, T. (2004). Treatment and generalization effects of errorless academic compliance training for children with autism. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 43, 163-171.
13.
Ducharme, J.M., Folino, A., & DeRosie, J. (2008). Errorless Acquiescence Training: A potential "keystone" approach to building peer interaction skills in children with severe problem behavior. Behavior Modification, 32, 39-60.
14.
Ducharme, J.M., & Harris, K. (2005). Errorless embedding for children with conduct difficulties: Rapport-based success-focused intervention in the classroom . Behavior Therapy, 36, 213-222.
15.
Farrington, D.P. (1994). Childhood, adolescent, and adult features of violent males. In L. R. Huesmann (Ed.), Aggressive behavior: Current perspectives (pp. 215-240). New York: Plenum.
16.
Gerardin, P., Cohen, D., Mazet, P., & Flament, M.F. (2002). Drug treatment of conduct disorder in young people . Journal of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology , 12, 361-370.
17.
Hudley, C., & Graham, S. (1993). An attributional intervention to reduce peer-directed aggression among African-American boys. Child Development , 64, 124-138.
18.
Kimonis, E.R., Frick, P.J., Boris, N.W., Smyke, A.T., Cornell, A.H., Farrell, J.M., et al. (2006). Callous-unemotional features, behavioral inhibition, and parenting: Independent predictors of aggression in a high-risk preschool sample. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 15, 741-752.
19.
Kupersmidt, J.B., Bryant, D., & Willoughby, M.T. (2000). Prevalence of aggressive behaviors among preschoolers in Head Start and Community Care programs. Behavioral Disorders, 26(1), 42-52.
20.
Lavigne, J.V., Gibbons, R.D., Christoffel, K.K., Arend, R., Rosenbaum, D., Binns, H., et al. (1996). Prevalence rates and correlates of psychiatric disorders among preschool children. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 35, 204-215.
Lochman, J.E., & Wells, K.C. (1996). A social-cognitive intervention with aggressive children: Prevention effects and contextual implementation issues. In R. D. Peters & R. J. McMahon (Eds.), Prevention and early intervention: Childhood disorders, substance use and delinquency (pp. 111-143). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
23.
Milch-Reich, S., Campbell, S.B., Pelham, W.E., Connelly, L.M., & Geva, D. (1999). Developmental and individual differences in children's on-line representations of dynamic social events. Child Development , 70, 413-431.
24.
Nagin, D., & Tremblay, R.E. (1999). Trajectories of boys' physical aggression, opposition, and hyperactivity on the path to physically violent and non-violent juvenile delinquency. Child Development, 70, 1181-1196.
25.
Orobio de Castro, B., Veerman, J.W., Koops, W., Bosch, J.D., & Monshouwer, H.J. (2002). Hostile attribution of intent and aggressive behavior: A meta-analysis. Child Development , 73(3), 916-934.
26.
Paternite, C.E., Loney, J., Salisbury, H., & Whaley, M.A. (1999). Childhood inattention-overactivity, aggression, and stimulant medication history as predictors of young adult outcomes. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology, 9, 169-184.
27.
Poulin, F., & Boivin, M. (2000). Reactive and proactive aggression: Evidence of a two-factor model. Psychological Assessment, 12, 115-122.
28.
Quay, H. (1987). Intelligence. In H. Quay (Ed.), Handbook of juvenile delinquency (pp. 106-117). New York: John Wiley.
29.
Quiggle, N., Garber, J., Panak, W., & Dodge, K.A. (1992). Social-information processing in aggressive and depressed children. Child Development, 63, 1305-1320.
30.
Rivara, F.P., Shepherd, J.P., Farrington, D.P., Richmond, P.W., & Cannon, P. (1995) Victim as offender in youth violence. Annals of Emergency Medicine, 26, 609-614.
31.
Schippell, P.L., Vasey, M.W., Cravens-Brown, L.M., & Bretveld, R.A. (2003). Suppressed attention to rejection, ridicule, and failure cues: A unique correlate of reactive but not proactive aggression in youth. Journal of Clinical and Child Adolescent Psychology, 32(1), 40-55.
32.
Snoek, H., van Goozen, S.H., Matthys, W., Sigling, H.O., Koppeschaar, H.P., Westenberg, H.G., et al. (2002). Serotonergic functioning in children with oppositional defiant disorder: A sumatriptan challenge study. Biological Psychiatry, 51, 319-325.
33.
Stattin, H., & Magnusson, D. (1989). The role of early aggressive behavior in the frequency, seriousness, and types of later crime. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 57, 710-718.
34.
Stoddard, L.T., & Sidman, M. (1967). The effects of errors on children's performance on a circle ellipse discrimination. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 10, 261-270.
35.
Terrace, H.S. (1966). Stimulus control. In W. K. Honig (Ed.), Operant behavior areas of research and application (pp. 271-344). New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
36.
Touchette, P.E. (1968). The effects of graduated stimulus change on the acquisition of a simple discrimination in severely retarded boys. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 11, 39-48.
37.
Volling, B.L., Mackinnon-Lewis, C., Rabiner, D., & Baradaran, L.P. (1993). Children's social competence and sociometric status. Further exploration of aggression, social withdrawal, and peer rejection. Development and Psychopathology, 5, 459-483.
38.
Waschbusch, D.A., Pelham, W.E., Jennings, R.J., Greiner, A.G., Tarter, R.E., & Moss, H.B. (2002). Reactive aggression in boys with disruptive behavior disorders: Behavior, physiology, and affect. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 30(6), 641-656.
39.
Waschbusch, D.A., Willoughby, M.T., & Pelham, W.E. (1998). Criterion validity and the utility of reactive and proactive aggression. Comparisons to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, and other measures of functioning . Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 27, 396-405.
40.
Wilson, J., & Herrnstein, R. (1985). Crime and human nature . New York: Simon & Schuster .
41.
Wolf, M.M. (1978). Social validity: The case for subjective measurement of how applied behavior analysis is finding its heart. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 11, 203-214.
