ABSTRACT
Data on the social behavior of typical children may inform practitioners and researchers regarding the appropriate goals of intervention for children with autism. This study assessed the ongoing levels of naturally occurring social behavior in 64 preschool-aged children. A 2 x 2 factorial design was used to analyze population (children with autism and typical children) and age (3 years 3 months vs. 4 years 4 months) differences at the time of preschool entry. Predictable population differences were found for key social behaviors of proximity to children, social bids from children, and focus of engagement on children, as well as for behavioral context variables of verbalizations, adult focus, and atypical behaviors. No differences were found in the amount of time spent focused on toys or objects. There were also no differences in the presenting behaviors of younger and older children with autism. Results are discussed in terms of implications for establishing early social intervention goals.
Subject(s)
Autistic Disorder/therapy , Social Behavior , Socioenvironmental Therapy , Adult , Attention , Child , Child, Preschool , Early Intervention, Educational , Female , Humans , Male , Personality Assessment , Play and Playthings , Verbal BehaviorABSTRACT
This study evaluated peer incidental teaching as a strategy for increasing reciprocal peer interactions by children with autism. Three typical preschoolers were trained as peer tutors for 3 young children with autism. During a classroom free-play session, peer tutors used incidental teaching to obtain verbal labels of preferred toys by children with autism. A multiple baseline across the 3 target children showed replicated positive effects of the intervention. Adult supervision and assistance were then faded systematically, with resulting maintenance of increased reciprocal interactions. Multiple measures of the extent and limits of generalization suggested that 1 child increased interactions in free-play periods throughout the day, but none of the children showed increases at lunch. Teacher and peer ratings supported the social validity of positive findings.
Subject(s)
Autistic Disorder/rehabilitation , Peer Group , Remedial Teaching/methods , Social Behavior , Social Environment , Autistic Disorder/psychology , Child, Preschool , Female , Generalization, Psychological , Humans , Mainstreaming, Education , Male , Sociometric TechniquesABSTRACT
An index of children's physical appearance and personal care was developed and used to assess youngsters with autism who lived (a) at home, (b) in an established group home, (c) in new group homes, and (d) in a large institution. Subsequently, a multiple baseline design across participants documented major changes in personal appearance and cleanliness when children moved from an institution to community-based, family-style group homes. Finally, data-based feedback generated by the appearance index was used as a training tool enabling group home staff to further improve child appearance. This research demonstrates how an evaluation instrument can be used to obtain comparative data, measure some effects of different residential placements, and provide ongoing feedback to caregivers to promote high standards of personal care among persons with severe developmental disabilities.
Subject(s)
Autistic Disorder/psychology , Child Care/standards , Hygiene , Activities of Daily Living , Autistic Disorder/rehabilitation , Child , Child, Institutionalized , Child, Preschool , Evaluation Studies as Topic , Female , Home Nursing/standards , Humans , Male , Residential Facilities/standardsABSTRACT
There is a need for practical methods of reinforcer assessment that systematically track ongoing changes in clients' preferences. In this study, the effects of a time-efficient reinforcer assessment package were evaluated in a multiple baseline across 3 preschoolers with autism, comparing individualized item selections by experienced teachers with children's presession preferences for items of various sensory qualities. Systematic assessment of children's reinforcers for correct responding virtually eliminated nontargeted maladaptive behaviors, as well as yielding expected improvements in accuracy. The powerful side-effects of potent reinforcers underline the importance of increased attention to reinforcer assessment in research and practice.
Subject(s)
Autistic Disorder/rehabilitation , Reinforcement, Psychology , Behavior Therapy , Child, Preschool , Humans , Male , Teaching/methodsABSTRACT
In an extension of incidental teaching procedures to reading instruction, two autistic children acquired functional sight-word reading skills in the context of a play activity. Children gained access to preferred toys by selecting the label of the toy in tasks requiring increasingly complex visual discriminations. In addition to demonstrating rapid acquisition of 5-choice discriminations, they showed comprehension on probes requiring reading skills to locate toys stored in labeled boxes. Also examined was postteaching transfer across stimulus materials and response modalities. Implications are that extensions of incidental teaching to new response classes may produce the same benefits documented in communication training, in terms of producing generalization concurrent with skill acquisition in the course of child-preferred activities.
Subject(s)
Autistic Disorder/therapy , Reading , Teaching/methods , Adolescent , Child, Preschool , Education, Special , Female , Generalization, Psychological , Humans , MaleABSTRACT
In a comparison of incidental teaching and traditional training procedures, three language-delayed autistic children were taught expressive use of prepositions to describe the location of preferred edibles and toys. Traditional highly structured training and incidental teaching procedures were used in a classroom setting, and generalization was assessed during free-play sessions. Results clearly indicate that incidental teaching promoted greater generalization and more spontaneous use of prepositions. These findings have important implications for language programming and teacher training, suggesting that incidental teaching should be included as a standard component of language development curricula for autistic and other developmentally delayed children.
Subject(s)
Autistic Disorder/therapy , Language Therapy/methods , Autistic Disorder/complications , Behavior Therapy/methods , Child , Generalization, Psychological , Humans , Language Development Disorders/complications , Language Development Disorders/therapy , Linguistics , Male , Reinforcement, Psychology , TeachingABSTRACT
A naturalistic social skills training program was used to teach assertive responses to three autistic adolescents. Training and assessment of positive and negative assertions occurred in the context of two game situations-a card game and a ball game. Training consisted of modeling and behavioral rehearsal prior to each game, with tokens delivered contingent on assertive responses. Evaluation of training effects was accomplished in a multiple baseline across response classes. The results demonstrated the effectiveness of the procedure in generating high levels of positive and negative assertions that maintained across a 4.5-month follow-up interval. This in vivo procedure for teaching social behaviors permits the concurrent acquisition of assertive responses and leisure behaviors, two skills that are of special importance in improving the quality of autistic youth's experiences with their peers.
Subject(s)
Assertiveness , Autistic Disorder/rehabilitation , Behavior Therapy/methods , Interpersonal Relations , Adolescent , Follow-Up Studies , Generalization, Psychological , Humans , Imitative Behavior , Male , Play and Playthings , Reinforcement, Psychology , Teaching/methodsABSTRACT
A modified incidental-teaching procedure was used to increase the receptive language skills of autistic youth who had previously experienced lengthy institutionalization. At the time of the study, the two severely language-delayed children had recently been transitioned to a community-based group home. Receptive-labeling skills were taught for four sets of objects typically used in school lunch preparation. The percentage of correct, unprompted object identifications displayed by Youth 1 increased when the incidental-teaching package (gestural prompts, behavior-specific praise, and contingent access to lunch-making supplies) was sequentially introduced in a multiple-baseline design across sets of objects. These results were replicated with Youth 2. The youths' newly acquired language skills also generalized to a different setting (the dining room of the group home) and to a different activity occurring later in the day (a traditional sit-down, discrete-trial session). This research indicates that the linguistic skills of severely developmentally delayed autistic children can be accelerated by incidental instruction that is provided in the course of shaping other home-living skills.
