RESUMO
The current study evaluated a procedure used to teach two children with autism to ask "why" questions maintained by causal information about an event. To increase the value of information as a reinforcer, the experimenter denied access to preferred items and did not provide a reason for the denial. Participants were taught to ask "why" questions and were provided with information that led them to access preferred items. To ensure that "why" questions only occurred when the information was valuable, we included a condition wherein access to preferred items was restricted but causal information was available. Both participants learned to ask "why" questions when causal information was not available and refrained from asking "why" questions when causal information was available.
RESUMO
The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically uprooted the lives of families around the world. Families living with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may be particularly affected due to being abruptly deprived of their usual in-person support from applied behavior analysis (ABA) service providers. This article gives how-to instructions on 18 simple acceptance and commitment training (ACT) programs that can be used as supplements to ongoing ABA services to support children with ASD whose verbal repertoires may play a part in the challenges they are facing during the current crisis. We describe several challenges that have been frequently reported by families and ABA practitioners during the pandemic. For each behavioral challenge, we provide a brief practical description, brief behavioral conceptual description, and how-to guidance on implementing ACT procedures that address each behavioral challenge at a functional level. The Appendix contains child-friendly worksheets for practitioners to use as visual supports while implementing the intervention procedures.
