Four autistic and severely handicapped children (ages 9-13) were taught to recruit or set the occasion for praise from an adult. After the structured instruction, the children used these behaviors in all generalization settings and were frequently successful in recruiting praise. (Author/DB)

A study examined effects of two adults on the requesting repertoire of a 3-year-old child with autism and language delays. Reinforcement contingencies associated with each adult were reversed after the participant reached a preestablished criterion of discriminated responding. The participant learned to request in a discriminated manner with each…

A study of a 15-year-old girl with autism who engaged in self-injury and aggression, found that gradually increasing the delay to reinforcement (access or escape), mand training, and extinction were effective for decreasing self-injury. Only when the gradual delay procedure was eliminated, however, was there a reduction in aggression. (Author/CR)

A rapid generalized motor imitation sequence was presented to five non-vocal children (ages 6-7) with autism before an opportunity to imitate a model's vocalizations. The presentation was faded by presenting an opportunity to vocally imitate without the sequence followed by an opportunity to independently mand. All participants began to vocalize.…