Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often display impairments in communication, such as limited echoic behavior, few vocal-verbal responses, and a lack of functional communication. One potential way to foster the acquisition of vocal responses in individuals with disabilities is by conditioning vocalizations as reinforcers. Conditioning…

Recent mandates related to the implementation of evidence-based practices for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) require that autism professionals both understand and are able to implement practices based on the science of applied behavior analysis (ABA). The use of the term "applied behavior analysis" and its related concepts…

This study evaluated use of the interpolation of reinforcement effect, which combines intermittent (INT) and continuous reinforcement (CRF) schedules, with four young children with autism using a free-operant preparation. Results suggest that responding may be less resistant to extinction following interpolated CRF reinforcement than following INT…

Described is the behavioral program for autistic children in use at the Valley View School District in Illinois. Sections cover the following topics: (1) characteristics of the autistic child (basic impairments, special skills, and secondary behavior problems), (2) basic principles of operant conditioning, (3) description of the methods used in…

Five profoundly retarded males (6 to 9 years old) with clinical manifestations of autism were used to evaluate the use of operant conditioning techniques to toilet train children in an autism ward of a hospital for developmentally disturbed children. (Author/SBH)

Joint attention (JA) initiation is defined in cognitive-developmental psychology as a child's actions that verify or produce simultaneous attending by that child and an adult to some object or event in the environment so that both may experience the object or event together. This paper presents a contingency analysis of gaze shift in JA…