Application of Token Economy to Decrease Pacifier use on a Child with Cerebral Palsy

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to assess the effectiveness of a token economy program to bring about total avoidance of pacifier use by a five-year-old child with Cerebral Palsy. A token economy is one of the most commonly used techniques to manage the behavior of children with special needs. This study uses a single-case study with an A-B-A design, where A represents the baseline phase, B represents the intervention phase, and A is the second baseline phase of the withdrawal of intervention without the use of token economy. The data was collected through home observation for four weeks involving three phases in which the first week was for baseline phase, two weeks for intervention and the final week for second baseline phase after the withdrawal of intervention. The results showed that the mean frequency of pacifier usage for the baseline (A) was 90 minutes, while the mean intervention frequency (B) was 35 minutes, and the mean frequency after intervention withdrawal (A) was only 15 minutes. The findings showed that there was a reduction in the frequency of the usage of pacifier after the intervention was conducted and the reduction was sustained even after intervention was withdrawn. This suggests that the token economy technique applied in this study is deemed to be suitable and can be used even for children with limited mobility such as those afflicted by cerebral palsy.