Association for Behavior Analysis International

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Parent coaching via telehealth facilitates communication between therapists and parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and provides the potential to decrease the discrepancy between demand for behavioral intervention services and families’ ability to access those services. The purpose of this single case multiple probe design was used to evaluate the effects of telehealth coaching on child communication skills in a multimodal communication intervention with parents of children with ASD. Three parent-child dyads and one parent-child triad participated in the study, with child ages ranging from 3 years to 15 years. The study design included three main phase changes in each level, including baseline, intervention, and maintenance phases. The generalization data was conducted across all three phases. All parents completed 10 to 12 coaching sessions ranging in duration from 30 to 60 minutes one time per week via a telehealth platform. The coach provided weekly feedback to parents after data analyzation of a video-recorded parent-child interaction. Results of the functional relation between parents’ fidelity and intervention, correlation and effects between parents’ fidelity and the child’s behavior, study limitations, and implications will be discussed.

Challenging behaviors in students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) poses a significant barrier to skill acquisition and the success of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) interventions. The current case study observed the effects of a multimodal procedure used to decrease the frequency of challenging behaviors in a student with ASD. Challenging behaviors included self-injurious behavior (SIB), throwing of objects, and tantrums. A functional assessment revealed that the challenging behaviors of both student’s had multiple functions, including attention and escape from demands. This study utilized implementation of a multimodal approach using elements of differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) without extinction on a fixed interval schedule, with visual supports, and functional communication training (FCT) to reduce challenging behaviors. Current literature supports the use of differential reinforcement procedures to reduce SIB and other challenging behaviors in students with ASD. The results of the study demonstrate a significant reduction of SIB, throwing and tantrum behaviors immediately after the implementation of the multimodal procedure. This study provides further support for the use and effectiveness of DRO with extinction procedures to reduce SIB and other challenging behaviors such as throwing and tantrums.

The Behavior Analytic literature provides a theoretical account of verbal behavior outside of the elementary verbal operants. This includes language that is described as sarcasm, deception, metaphors, and humor. By considering the theoretical underpinnings of humor based verbal behavior and utilizing empirically validated instruction methods like Behavioral Skills Training (BST) and Multiple Exemplar Training (MET) individuals with language deficits, like those with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) may acquire these advanced verbal skills. Subsequently, these individuals are given access to a richer, verbal community. Instruction in these skills could be further enhanced through the application of strategies to encourage observational learning, a strategy currently underutilized when teaching these types of advanced verbal skills. Results indicated that BST increased joke-telling skills while mixed results were observed with humor comprehension.

“Safety skills” is an important umbrella term used to cover a variety of skills. Many individuals are at risk of safety threatening occasions. Individuals with autism face two to three times the risk of injury or abuse compared with their same age peers. Unless systematically taught, children with ASD can’t acquire safety skills and behave appropriately or protect themselves against to safety threats. Although safety skills are important skills, researchers and practitioners have not yet shown their closer attention. Teaching these skills are usually neglected. There is paucity in research investigating safety skills instruction. Although they are limited, the findings of these studies are promising. The purpose of the present study was to analyze the research studies, which are designed by single-subject research designs in teaching safety skills. These analyses were conducted (a) to examine whether they meet the quality indicators proposed by Kratochwill et al. (2013), (b) to provide comprehensive descriptive analyses, (c) to calculate the effect size of the interventions, and (d) to recommend whether these interventions should be considered as evidence-based practices. Thirty-two studies were reviewed and analyzed. Behavioral skill training found to be evidence-based practice in teaching safety skills.

Autism is characterized by: 1) persistent deficit in communication and social interaction in multiple contexts; and 2) repetitive patterns of behavior and interest or restricted activities with significant impairments in social life. Behavior Analysis research shows that the person diagnosed with autism presents difficulties in generalizing behaviors learned in teaching environments to other contexts. The objective of this research was to analyze the variables involved in the generalization process of the intraverbal operants taught in a structured situation with people diagnosed with autism. Three children, aged between 6 and 8 years, with a diagnosis of autism participated in the study. The participants were trained regarding the intraverbal teaching of geometric forms and, through the antecedent stimuli, an echoic prompt was offered and delayed according to the correct answers without it. The data showed after 6-7 sessions the three participants, who previously did not present the intraverbal behavior, intraverbalized without the echoic prompt. In addition, the generalization test showed that all of the participants presented the intraverbal in 100% of the attempts in other contexts. This result was different from what some authors previously affirmed, in which structured teaching does not facilitate the generalization of learned behaviors.

The purpose of the proposed poster presentation is to share a methodology of early verbal behavior intervention based on Brown's Stages of Syntactic and Morphological Development (1973) and the Bloom and Lahey Model (1978) utilized in our speech therapy private practice. This model holds that teaching rich, flexible verbs that extend beyond the typical "want", in effective pairing with salient nouns, results in individuals with more robust vocabularies, even if their mean length of utterance remains limited. In practical application, this method has shown promise in children with Autism based on data collected and progress towards goals collected from children in our practice. Generalization and expansion have been seen in children whose speech therapy intervention has included this model of intervention.