Tina M. Sidener

Two Variations of Video Modeling Interventions for Teaching Play Skills to Children with Autism

The current study employed an adapted alternating treatments design with reversal and multiple probe across participants components to compare the effects of traditional video priming and simultaneous video modeling on the acquisition of play skills in two children diagnosed with autism. Generalization was programmed across play sets, instructors, and settings. Overall, both video modeling procedures proved to be effective in teaching and producing maintenance of play skills. For one participant, these procedures appeared to be equally effective in terms of acquisition of the main dependent variable, scripted play actions. For another participant, scripted play actions were acquired more quickly in the simultaneous condition.

Response Interruption and Redirection for Vocal Stereotypy in Children with Autism: A Systematic Replication.

This study systematically replicated and extended previous research on response interruption and redirection (RIRD) by assessing instructed responses of a different topography than the target behavior, percentage of session spent in treatment, generalization of behavior reduction, and social validity of the intervention. Results showed that RIRD produced substantial decreases in vocal stereotypy. Limitations of this study were that behavior reduction did not generalize to novel settings or with novel instructors and that appropriate vocalizations did not improve.

EFFECTS OF THREE TYPES OF NONCONTINGENT AUDITORY STIMULATION ON VOCAL STEREOTYPY IN CHILDREN WITH AUTISM

We evaluated the effects of 3 types of noncontingent auditory stimulation (music, white noise, recordings of vocal stereotypy) on 2 children with autism who engaged in high rates of vocal stereotypy. For both participants, the music condition was the most effective in decreasing vocal stereotypy to near-zero levels, resulted in the highest parent social validity ratings, and was selected as most preferred in treatment preference evaluations.

Evaluating the Emergence of Reverse Intraverbals in Children with Autism.

Verbal behavior plays a fundamental role in the development of complex social and communication skills. Many children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder exhibit profound deficiencies in intraverbal repertoires and the development of social relationships. Recent studies that investigated the effects of intraverbal training on the emergence of reverse intraverbals produced mixed results (e.g., Perez-Gonzalez et al., Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis 40:697–701, 2007)). In the current study, a multiple-probe design across four participants with autism was used to evaluate the effects of intraverbal training on the emergence of reverse intraverbals. Intraverbal training consisted of multiple exemplars taught concurrently, bidirectional stimulus-response teaching formats, general case analysis, reinforcement, and a constant prompt delay (CPD) procedure. Participants were trained on intraverbal targets and probes were conducted to assess emergence of untaught reverse intraverbals. Three participants demonstrated the emergence of reverse intraverbals as a result of the intraverbal training procedures. Social validity and maintenance of target responses and emergent reverse intraverbals were assessed.

Stimulus-Stimulus Pairing of Vocalizations: A Systematic Replication

The current study replicated an enhanced stimulus-stimulus pairing (SSP) procedure used by Esch et al. (Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis 42: 42–225, 2009) for increasing vocalizations in children with autism. The enhanced SSP procedure consisted of pairing target vocalizations with high-preference items, interspersed target and nontarget trials, an observing response, and the presentation of the vocalizations in “motherese” speech. Results showed substantial increases in target vocalizations above baseline levels and above nontarget vocalizations for two of three participants.

AN EVALUATION OF THE NUMBER OF PRESENTATIONS OF TARGET SOUNDS DURING STIMULUS—STIMULUS PAIRING TRIALS

We evaluated the differential effects of 2 variations of a stimulus-stimulus pairing procedure on the vocalizations of 2 children with autism. For both participants, presenting 1 sound per pairing trial resulted in a higher rate of vocalizations than 3 sounds per pairing trial.

Evaluating Function-Based Social Stories™ With Children With Autism:

Social Stories™ are often used with children with autism to provide information about appropriate behaviors in specific contexts. Although Social Stories™ often target reduction of problem behavior, there is limited research evaluating function-based Social Stories™ based on the results of experimental functional analyses. This study used a brief functional analysis to assist in developing a Social Story™ that matched the function of the target behavior for two boys with autism. The differential effects of a Social Story™ that matched the function of the behavior, a Social Story™ that did not match the function of the behavior, and a Social Story™ that described baseline were compared in an alternating treatments design. Results indicated that (a) the function-based Social Story™ plus functional communication training (FCT) was effective in decreasing target problem behavior and increasing target mands for both participants, (b) both participants selected the function-based Social Story™ during treatment preference evaluations, and (c) both participants maintained low levels of target problem behavior and maintained target mands when the Social Stories™ were removed.

An assessment of differential reinforment procedures for learners with autism spectrum disorder

Differential reinforcement procedures may promote unprompted correct responding, resulting in a quicker transfer of stimulus control than nondifferential reinforcement. Recent studies that have compared reinforcement arrangements have found that the most effective arrangement may differ across participants. The current study conducted an assessment of differential reinforcement arrangements (i.e., quality, schedule, and magnitude) and nondifferential reinforcement to identify the most effective arrangement for each participant. The assessment phase showed that the quality arrangement was the most efficient for all participants during auditory-visual matching. Next, a validation phase was conducted to evaluate whether the assessment would predict the most effective arrangement across multiple skills. The results from the assessment phase were validated for all participants for the same skill. However, the results were only validated for one participant during the other skills (i.e., tact and intraverbal). The results are discussed in light of previous research and future areas of research.

Effects of Computer-Based Training on Procedural Modifications to Standard Functional Analyses.

Few studies have evaluated methods for training decision-making when functional analysis data are undifferentiated. The current study evaluated computer-based training to teach 20 graduate students to arrange functional analysis conditions, analyze functional analysis data, and implement procedural modifications. Participants were exposed to training materials using interactive software during a 1-day session. Following the training, mean scores on the posttest, novel cases probe, and maintenance probe increased for all participants. These results replicate previous findings during a 1-day session and include a measure of participant acceptability of the training. Recommendations for future research on computer-based training and functional analysis are discussed.