Rule-Governed Behavior: Teaching Social Skills via Rule-Following to Children with Autism.

Rule-governed behavior (RGB) is behavior that is controlled by verbal descriptions of contingencies rather than by direct contact or a history of direct contact with the contingencies. Humans rely on RGB to navigate a multitude of life experiences, and in doing so, we avoid direct contact with destructive or harmful contingencies or contingencies that would be inefficient to contact. However, individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) frequently struggle with RGB, leaving them at increased risk of contacting aversive consequences. As a result, acquiring RGB can be a valuable developmental outcome for individuals with ASD. The current study examined the effectiveness of an intervention program designed to promote acquisition and generalization of rule-governed social skills in children with ASD. Multiple exemplar training (MET) resulted in increased performance of the target behavior as well as successful discrimination.

Teaching children with autism to tie their shoes using video prompt-models and backward chaining.

Video-Based Interventions (VBIs) are those that make use of pre-recorded video footage to assist in the acquisition of a variety of skills and behaviours. This study examined one type of VBI, video prompting, and its effectiveness when combined with backward chaining. Prior research suggests that both VBIs and backward chaining are effective intervention methods for skill acquisition. Using a single-subject multiple baseline design, this experiment expands the current literature by thoroughlyexamining backward chaining and a VBI for the acquisition of the shoe-tying behavior in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The results obtained from this study support prior research that VBIs are effective and their effectiveness is influenced by a number of factors. We also found that majority of the participants were able to retain their newly acquired behaviors one week after achieving mastery.

The impact of stimulus preference, order-effects, and treatment component omission in evaluating treatment integrity.

Prior research on treatment integrity has focused either on the lack of measurement of the independent variable or on methods to increase overall levels of treatment integrity. Little research has focused on the effectiveness of common interventions when implemented with less than perfect integrity. The current investigation evaluated the effectiveness of using differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) and prompting to increase math completion for 36 early elementary students. Treatment was evaluated when both components were implemented, when only reinforcement was implemented, when only prompting was implemented, and when neither was implemented. In addition, preferences for either attention or escape and order-effects of conditions were evaluated. Results indicated treatment was effective at all levels of implementation compared to baseline. However, when preferences for escape and attention were evaluated, analysis revealed individuals who preferred escape responded best when both treatment components were implemented, whereas for individuals who preferred attention, all treatment conditions were equally effective. In addition, results evaluating order effects indicated that exposure to either prompting or reinforcement prior to baseline significantly increased math completion as well as exposure to reinforcement in the first condition.

Evaluating an integrated support model for increasing treatment plan implementation following consultation in schools.

This study examined the percentage of steps implemented from treatment plans following consultation with teachers. Interventions were implemented for 39 elementary school students referred for consultation and treatment for challenging behavior or academic deficits. An integrated support model that included antecedent social influence and planning combined with follow-up performance feedback was compared to weekly structured follow-up interviews. Participating teacher-student dyads were randomly assigned to conditions. Integrated support produced superior treatment implementation and child outcomes compared to weekly follow-up meetings. In contrast, teachers' ratings of consultants' effectiveness, treatment acceptability, and treatment implementation were undifferentiated across conditions. Treatment plan implementation and child behavioral outcomes were statistically significantly correlated. Treatment acceptability and implementation were not correlated at a statistically significant level. The implications of these findings for consultation and treatment research and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Using performance feedback to enhance implementation fidelity of the problem-solving team process.

Implementation integrity is a potentially critical issue for problem-solving teams (PST) and most response-to-intervention models. The current study hypothesized that providing performance feedback, which has consistently been shown to increase implementation integrity, to PSTs would enhance the procedural integrity of the process. The PSTs for three elementary schools were provided performance feedback with a 20-item checklist created from the literature. A multiple-baseline design across schools revealed an immediate change in level after providing performance feedback. The resulting percentages of non-overlapping data were 90.9%, 90.0%, and 100%. However, PSTs still did not monitor student progress, assess the effectiveness of the intervention, or measure the integrity with which the intervention was implemented even after receiving feedback. Thus, providing performance feedback could be a method to increase the fidelity with which critical components of data-based problem-solving are implemented, but these data suggest the need for additional research.

Evaluating preference assessments for use in the general education population.

This study compared the effectiveness of a multiple-stimulus-without-replacement (MSWO) preference assessment and teacher preference ranking in identifying reinforcers for use in a general education setting with typically developing elementary-school children. The mean number of digits correctly answered was greater in the MSWO-selected reward and the teacher-selected reward conditions relative to the no-reward condition for 2 of the 4 participants, but there were no differences between the MSWO-selected and teacher-selected reward conditions for any participant.

Sequencing instructional tasks. A comparison of contingent and noncontingent interspersal of preferred academic tasks.

This study compared two strategies for increasing accurate responding on a low-preference academic task by interspersing presentations of a preferred academic task. Five children attending a preschool program for children with delayed language development participated in this study. Preferred and nonpreferred tasks were identified through a multiple-stimulus, free-operant preference assessment. Contingent access to a preferred academic task was associated with improved response accuracy when compared to noncontingent access to that activity for 3 students. For 1 student, noncontingent access to the preferred activity led to improved response accuracy, and 1 student's analysis suggested the importance of procedural variety. The implications of these findings for use of preference assessments to devise instructional sequences that improve student responding are discussed.