Using generic picture cues to promote verbal initiations during play.

Children with autism spectrum disorder often demonstrate difficulty communicating with others, and this may affect the extent to which they can engage in contextually appropriate language during play. This study examined the effects of a social script-training intervention using generic picture cues on the number of contextually appropriate play statements for children with autism spectrum disorder. We also examined the extent to which responding generalized to novel toy sets and analyzed play statement types. A nonconcurrent multiple-baseline-across-participants design with embedded reversal components was used to evaluate the effects of the generic picture-cue intervention on contextually appropriate play statements. Three participants demonstrated a higher number of contextually appropriate play statements in the training condition as compared with the baseline and no-cue conditions. Further, two out of three participants continued to emit a similar number of contextually appropriate play statements when we introduced novel toy sets.

A Comparison of Telehealth-Based Instruction with or without Instructive Feedback.

Language delays are commonly displayed by children on the autism spectrum. To help facilitate the development of verbal behavior, practitioners often implement intensive one-on-one, face-to-face instruction. However, the COVID-19 pandemic hindered typical face-to-face service delivery and caused practitioners to assess alternative approaches to facilitate clients' continued progress. Instructive feedback (IF) is one teaching strategy to enhance instruction or make it more efficient. During this teaching procedure, instructors provide formal teaching of target responses and embed demonstrations of secondary target responses within sequences of instruction. In the current study, we investigated the efficacy of IF provided within telehealth instruction. Four participants on the autism spectrum participated in the study. Participants received two forms of telehealth instruction that targeted speaker-responding. The first form consisted of discrete trial instruction (DTI), and the second form combined DTI with IF. These results indicate that both forms of instruction improved speaker-responding of primary targets for all participants. Additionally, a secondary analysis of secondary targets indicated that two of the four participants acquired some secondary targets. These results suggest that including IF within DTI might be beneficial for some participants receiving DTI via telehealth.

Creating and Sharing Digital ABA Instructional Activities: A Practical Tutorial.

Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) may encounter situations, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, that preclude them from providing traditional in-person applied behavior-analytic services to clients. When conditions prevent BCBAs and behavior technicians from working directly with clients, digital instructional activities designed by BCBAs and delivered via a computer or tablet may be a viable substitute. Google applications, including Google Slides, Google Forms, and Google Classroom, can be particularly useful for creating and sharing digital instructional activities. In the current article, we provide task analyses for utilizing basic Google Slides functions, developing independent instructional activities, developing caregiver-supported instructional activities, and sharing activities with clients and caregivers. We also provide practical recommendations for implementing digital instructional activities with clients and caregivers.