The target behavior in this case is the elimination of bedtime thumbsucking in children. It is reported that about 46 percent of children from birth to about age 16 are thumbsuckers (Knight & McKenzie, 1974). The behavior occurs more when the children are just about to get to bed. Therefore, an intervention to deter the behavior is likely to work best at that time. Thumbsucking is socially inappropriate and is likely to cause malocclusion (misalignment between the upper and lower teeth). Additionally, the intervention works best in a home setting where data can be collected without the children suspecting.
Procedure
The experiment to be conducted by the parents or older siblings of the thumbsucking children
Get interesting storybooks to read to the child during bedtime; preferably, the child should choose the book to be read
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The bedroom should not have other distractions, which could take away the attention of the child from the story being read
The session to take about 30 minutes each day
Read the story when the child is not thumbsucking and stop when the child thumbsucks
With a stop watch, record the time it takes the child to thumbsuck and the time it takes to stop
The process should be repeated at least for 6 months
Implementation
It is best to implement the intervention method when the child is least suspicious of the experiment. The objective is to make the procedure as normal as possible for the best results. The reading strategy is aimed at conditioning the child to the reading stimuli. It should auger to the child that reading only proceeds when they are not thumbsucking. Also, the exercise needs to involve at least two people, and the person using the stopwatch needs to sit s considerable distance from the child and ensure the sound of the stopwatch is not too audible.
Reference
Knight, M. F., & McKenzie, H. S. (1974). Elimination Of Bedtime Thumbsucking In Home Settings Through Contingent Reading 1. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis , 7 (1), 33-38.
