Association for Behavior Analysis International

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders have a higher prevalence of comorbid sleep disturbance as compared with non-disabled children of the same age (Liu et al., 2006). Although evidence-based behavior-analytic interventions can be readily implemented by parents and caregivers in the home setting, direct observation data is often difficult to capture for a variety of reasons. Caregiver sleep-checks are not only demanding on their own sleep schedules, but can inadvertently cause sleep interference for the child. Video monitoring and recording via an internet-integrated webcam system offers the potential for non-intrusive real-time data-collection for intervention evaluation and progress-monitoring. In this study, an infrared webcam programmed to detect motion and sound was utilized to monitor the sleep behavior of an eight-year-old child with autism with frequent night wakings, including disruptive behavior (e.g. screaming, throwing items, leaving bed, leaving room). A multi-component treatment package including sleep hygiene supports and a bedtime pass was implemented by her parents through a conjoint behavioral consultation model. Implications for the clinical utility as well as the experimental rigor of using web-based video monitoring to evaluate behavioral treatment of sleep disorders will be discussed.

People diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) typically have deficits and delays related to cognitive function and language, both receptive and expressive (DSMIVTR; 2000). A number of interventions based upon the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) have been shown to be effective in the acquisition of communication skills and developmental improvement (Jensen & Sinclair, 2002. In some children, the difficulties in acquiring communications skills may be exacerbated by the fact that the family may speak more than one language in the child's home. The present study sought to determine if there are differences in acquisition of receptive labels when taught in Spanish, English, or using a combination of the two languages. An errorless teaching strategy was used in all conditions and data on the acquisition of target responses were evaluated in two children with autism (ages 2.7 & 2.10). Results indicated that the language targets taught separately (one language) were acquired at roughly the same rate. However when targets were taught across languages (both English and Spanish), nearly twice as many instructional sessions were required to meet mastery criteria.

This presentation will explore a model that utilizes single subject methodology to evaluate the effectiveness of medications on behaviours commonly associated with ASD including aggression, self-injury, stereotypy, and disruption. The model presented is the outcome of multiple case studies over the course of 12 months. Successes and pitfalls will be highlighted with an eye toward improving collaboration between ABA providers and physicians.

The effectiveness and acceptability of applied behavior analysis (ABA) for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has not been systematically examined in African American (AA) families, leaving generalizability to this group largely unknown. In this study, three AA mothers of children with ASD and difficult behavior were taught to implement behavior management strategies based on differential reinforcement (DR) at home during a difficult daily routine. Children were ages 7, 15, and 17 and behavior problems included tantrums, off-task behavior/prompt dependence, and rapid eating. Each mother was taught to implement a DR-based intervention with her child. The effectiveness of the interventions was assessed in a multiple-baseline-across-participants design, while acceptability of interventions was assessed through rating scales and qualitative interviews. The data indicate that the DR-based interventions were effective in reducing problem behavior; however parents maintained interventions with varying degrees of fidelity. Interviews generally support the acceptability of the interventions from the perspective of AA mothers of children with ASD with some feedback for how the interventions could be made more acceptable to families.

A Peer Model Education Curriculum (PMEC) has been developed to teach neurotypical peer models strategies for coaching social skills in peers with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The aim of the curriculum is to increase interactions with peers with ASD, prompt targeted skills, and praise successful application of these skills. This study examines the relationship between the use of the PMEC and corresponding changes in targeted skills for middle school peer models. The skills include initiating verbal interactions, prompting, and delivering verbal praise. The peer models learn the skills during small group instruction and then have opportunities to interact with peers with ASD during periods of unstructured playtime. A consolidated score of peers behavior is tracked using direct observation with a multiple baseline design across target behaviors. Peer models receive performance feedback based on their performance in the three behaviors. In addition, the participants scores on the Social Skills Improvement System are assessed at the beginning and the end of the study. Implications for practical application in schools and clinical settings and directions for future research are discussed.

This paper described a six months' action research of applied behavior analysis for 4 prekindergarten children with ASD and a 11-teachers team in Chongqing, China, and a professional team in Taiwan. The research presents an operation model which a professor and 3 senior specialists from Taiwan support to promote ABA to the autism research center in Mainland China. The purpose of this action research was to explore the problems occurred during the process of development of ABA in mainland, China, and to find out scientific-based strategies to solve the problems. The results of this research were discussed in five perspectives. And the training skills improvement of the team in Chongqing Normal University, and the achievement gains of four children would also display in this research.

The aim of this study was to show the effect of using video modeling and reinforcement procedures to train perspective-taking skills to adolescent whit autism. We replicated and extended Leblanc, Coates Daneshvar, Charlop-Cristy, Morris, & Lancaster (2003) study. Particularly we trained generalization skills using multiple exemplar training. A pre-post design was implemented. Initially a pre-assessment with the Basic Language and Learning Skills Revised (ABLLS-R) was conducted to select the participant. During the pretest phase the Sally and Anne task was conducted to evaluate the perspective taking skills. Then participant was trained on the perspective-taking using the hide and seek and smarties tasks with different stimuli followed by generalization training and posttest. The dependent variable was perspective taking skill as measured by the performance on different trials with the two experimental tasks presented randomly. During training the participant was exposed to the video that contain the two tasks with the different stimuli; then the correct response was modeled by the experimenter followed by participants independent response. The criterion for training was 80% in both tasks. Immediately after the participant was exposed to the generalization test with a new set of stimuli. Finally a posttest was presented to evaluate the perspective-taking skills. Preliminary results replicated LeBlanc et al. (2003) study. In the conclusion we discuss the findings of the study and the benefits on multiple exemplar training for perspective-taking skills.

There are a variety of communication devices shown to be effective for increasing the (functional/adaptive) communication of individuals with developmental disabilities. However there is little research investigating how to identify an individuals preference for a specific communication modality. The current study examined methods for determining preference between three picture-based communication systems (i.e., pictorial communication board, electronic communication system, and functional communication cards) for an adolescent diagnosed with autism; the participant had no prior history of communicating independently with the devices. Initially, a multielement design was used to evaluate the participants levels of independent responding for each modality; following communication training sessions the devices were offered concurrently to evaluate preference when response effort was low (i.e., required only one step to receive reinforcement). After the participant showed variability in responding for selecting each device, the level of response effort was increased (i.e., required two steps to receive reinforcement) for each device, and the communication devices were again offered concurrently to evaluate how the participant distributed his responding. With the response effort increase the participant showed a clear preference for one communication device. Findings and limitations as they related to identifying preferences for communication devices among individuals with disabilities are discussed.

We evaluated the effects of a punishment based behavior intervention to reduce the frequency of oral self-stimulation including various topographies (i.e. mouthing non-edible objects and body parts) with four children diagnosed with severe developmental delays. Prior to the intervention, baseline data indicated all four subjects were engaging in a high frequency of mouthing behavior. This study used an oral taste aversion behavior intervention to reduce the frequency of oral self-stimulation. The punishment procedure included swiping the inside bottom lip with natural taste aversive substances- using a multiple baseline across subjects design. The data shows that with the intervention in place, the frequency of the mouthing behavior significantly decreased to lower levels. This gave evidence to suggest that the taste aversion intervention effectively functioned as a form of punishment, reducing oral self-stimulatory behavior in the form of mouthing. This study did not take into account the systematic altering of the natural taste aversives or alternative methods of delivery.

Students with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) showed some difficulties about social interaction especially the emotional expression. In recent year, some researchers argued that no difference between students with ASD and students with typical development in the emotion understanding tasks. We thought that students with ASD were not reinforced to express emotion words in daily situation. In this study, two students with ASD participated, who had difficulties to express emotion words. We developed some four-frame cartoons included change of feeling situation. These students were required to tact each frame as many as they could. In training phase, we introduced (1) the list of emotion words as prompt, and (2) the graph that shows the number of emotion words they said. As results, all students said more emotion words about four-frame cartoon in probe than baseline. Moreover, the number of new emotion words that are not included in the list was increased.

This multiple baseline design across participants study uses a prompting hierarchy intervention to increase responses to protodeclarative joint attention bids in young children with autism. The discrete trial intervention, as described in Whalen and Schreibman (2003), occurs during unstructured time where the childs attention is directed toward an object with which they are not currently engaged. Ten prompting levels are utilized, including putting the childs hand on object, tapping object, showing object, pointing to object and having the child follow a gaze toward the object with and without a verbal prompt. Baseline data were collected for two weeks prior to intervention, and a minimum of 8 data points for each prompting level was collected for each participant. During baseline, rates of responding ranged from 63-100% accuracy, with a mean of 90.6% accuracy across all participants for the highest-prompted condition. For the gaze-directed, least-prompted condition, rates of responding ranged from 0-25% accuracy, with a mean of 2.7% accuracy. Preliminary analysis of intervention data shows increased successful joint attention across prompting levels when reinforcement is incorporated. Interrater reliability and generalization with the childs natural caregiver data will be obtained prior to the conclusion of this study.

The current study investigates the occurrence of specific challenging behaviors evoked during treatment of children with autism as potential examples of adjunctive behavior. Adjunctive behavior has been defined as behavior maintained indirectly by reinforcement of another response class (Mace and Wacker, 1994) and has included characteristics such as excessive quantity and post-reinforcement temporal regularity (Reid and Staddon, 1982), being neither elicited nor directly reinforced (Kupfer, Allen, and Malagodi, 2008), but rather maintained indirectly by the typical controlling variables of another behavior, rather than by its own controlling variables (Foster, 1978). The goal of the current research project is to extend previous research by Lerman, Iwata, Zarcone, and Ringdahl (1994) and Dardano (1973). The current research used Progressive and Regressive Ratio schedules of reinforcement of a general academic task in order to examine the frequency of challenging/adjunctive behaviors (stereotypic or automatic reinforced behavior) as functionally related to both ratio requirements and inter-reinforcement times for a concurrent operant task. Results suggest that for two of three participants the criteria for adjunctive behavior were met in that frequency of challenging behavior was a direct function of the ratio requirements and challenging behaviors occurred predominately in the post-reinforcement period.

Abstract Oral hygiene is vital in promoting health especially for children with autism due to their preference for sweet things. If unchecked, this often leads to tooth decay. It is therefore important for the child to learn brushing teeth independently, as early as possible. In light of this, a tooth brushing program was prepared for a six year old child with autism. The purpose of this was to promote independence of tooth brushing. A task analysis was used, whereby the steps involved were broken down in a simple sequential order. The instructor went through the program and conducted a base line to assess the level of skill of the subject. A most to least prompt fading procedure was used. As the child progressed, the level of independence increased while physical assistance decreased. Through the study, it is observed that breaking down any learning program into steps, makes teaching and learning easier for both the instructor and the student. In addition, this form of learning promotes permanence, especially for autistic children, as their strengths lie in mastering patterns.

Prior research has shown video modeling to be an effective intervention for children with autism to increase a variety of skills. These include sociodramatic play, reciprocal conversation, imitative skills, and vocational skills. Recent technological advances, such as the IPad and IPod Touch, may increase access to video-modeling techniques because of their ease of use compared to older technologies such as VCR/video-tapes and DVDs. The current study used a multiple-baseline-across-participants experimental design to examine the effectiveness of presenting a video-model using the IPad to teach three children with autism to set the table. During baseline, an instruction was presented to Set the table. No further assistance was provided. During treatment, the instruction was delivered followed by prompts to navigate the IPad to watch a video of each target response. Prompts were faded across sessions. The results showed that video-modeling using the IPad was an effective means of increasing independent table-setting for each participant. The results are discussed in terms of transfer for stimulus control and prompt efficiency.

Token economies have wide support as an effective method for behavior change. With substantial research supporting the benefits of token economies, there has been little research to date on the delivery method of the tokens to the participants. In this study, a nine-year old female diagnosed with PDD-NOS received tokens under an established Behavior Intervention Plan. The five inappropriate behaviors aimed at reduction included non-compliance, tantrums, eloping, off-task passive behavior, and self-talk. An alternating treatment design was used with four conditions of varying token delivery: Full Attention (student self-delivered tokens), No Attention (student did not see or hear token delivery), Auditory Attention (student was verbally informed of token delivery), and Visual Attention (student was shown token board as tokens were delivered). It was found that the No Attention condition produced the most substantial behavior change as compared to the baseline condition, decreasing the occurrence of three of the five target behaviors. In the three other conditions, the behavior either increased or did not change. These results suggest that the method in which a token is delivered may have an impact on behavior targeted for change.

Children with asperger disorder have difficult for social interaction so as to be likely to have trouble with classmates in regular class situation (inclusive education). The purpose of this study was to examine effect of self- monitoring procedure to improvement inappropriate verbal behavior for aspergers child in regular class situation. A participant was a boy (eight years old) belonged to regular class. His problem behaviors were mainly inappropriate verbal behaviors during class (for example; abusive language and irregular language). In baseline, we observed his verbal behavior during class at his school. The observer was not known (unfamiliar person) by the participant. Then, we made a list of inappropriate verbal behaviors that had been observed in baseline. In self-monitoring condition, the participant evaluated his own verbal behavior and checked the list by himself after school every day. He was presented backup-reinforcer according to evaluation of his checked list by a therapist in clinical setting every two weeks. The verbal behavior during class observed the same procedure as baseline. As a result, inappropriate verbal behavior decreased in self-monitoring condition. We discussed the effect of specific target behavior checked by the participant, quick and simple making up the behavior list, and the effect of self-monitoring for complex verbal behaviors in inclusive education.