The present study aimed to examine the effectiveness of a multi-component intervention on cooperative behaviors in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In this study, three dyads comprising six boys aged between 4.5 and 7 years with ASD participated, following a randomized multiple baseline design. The participants were asked to construct…

Are young children just random explorers who learn serendipitously? Or are even young children guided by uncertainty-directed sampling, seeking to explore in a systematic fashion? We study how children between the ages of 4 and 9 search in an explore-exploit task with spatially correlated rewards, where exhaustive exploration is infeasible and not…

We examined the effects of the least-to-most prompting (LTM) procedure with contingent imitation (CI) on increasing the frequency and diversity of pretend play in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) using a multiple probe across toy sets single-case research design. Three children with ASD ages 5 to 6 years took part in the study. LTM was…

Deficits in social skills are common in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and there is an urgent need for effective social skills interventions, especially for improving interactions with typically developing peers. This study examined the effects of a naturalistic behavioral social skills intervention in improving social initiations…

This randomized, controlled study examined the initial efficacy of an executive function training program for children with autism spectrum disorder. Seventy 7- to 11 year-olds with autism spectrum disorder and intelligence quotients [greater than or equal to]80 were randomly assigned to receive a web-based set of executive function training games…

Temperamental effortful control (EC) and executive functions (EF) are two frameworks for studying self-regulation in children. Despite stemming from different research traditions, they show many conceptual and theoretical similarities and their corresponding tasks are often used interchangeably. However, little is known about how and whether the…

We examined the use of an intervention package consisting of the system of least prompts (SLP), visual schedules, peer models, and contingent reinforcement to teach four children with disabilities to independently play board games and communicate with their typically developing peers. We found the intervention package with individual adaptations…