Say-Do and Thumbsucking Behavior

Abstract

Chronic daily and nocturnal thumbsucking have been treated using a myriad of procedures. Response prevention has been considered as one of the most useful and nonintrusive procedures for the elimination of thumbsucking. However, if applied in the school setting some problems may arise. This report presents a “say-do” procedure for elimination day thumbsucking in the class setting in a 5-year-old boy which was highly correlated during baseline with periods of inactivity. The social interactions during these periods were very low. After three days in which a saying-doing procedure including a quick fading of its components was applied, thumbsucking decreased and social behavior increased. Follow-up reports from parents and staff kindergarten (next week and our months after the implementation of the procedure) indicated the absence of thumbsucking. Two years later, parents reported no thumbsucking. Results are discussed with regard to maintenance and generalization.