The relationship between preferred objects associated with stereotypy, stereotypic behavior, and accuracy of responding during a counting task by a child with autism was analyzed. Teaching with high-preference objects occasioned more stereotypic behavior and less accurate counting than teaching with medium- and low-preference objects. (Author/DB)

The study evaluated a reinforcement theory of stereotyped behavior with six autistic students (ages 9-16). Three students evidenced decreases in stereotypy and increases in responding in the presence of usual reinforcers, while the other three students required external suppression of stereotypy before increases in responding were shown.…

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 investigated transfer and maintenance of question-answering skills in five children (ages 3-7) with autism. After training using analogous question-answer exemplars, children were able to answer novel questions with complete sentences within each class (what, where, who, and why), and showed transfer of skills across persons, settings, and…

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a reinforcement-based toilet training intervention with three children with autism. Procedures included positive reinforcement, graduated guidance, scheduled practice trials, and forward prompting. All three children reduced urination accidents to zero and learned to request bathroom use spontaneously…

Four mentally retarded children (ages 4-11), 3 with autism, were successfully taught various adaptive behaviors for self-care skills. Training procedures involved the whole-task method and included modeling, verbal instructions, prompting, and edible and social reinforcement. (Author/JDD)