The use of applied behavior analysis (ABA) to treat persons with autism goes back several decades. Many specific target behaviors and intervention strategies have been developed. In the last two decades the most heavily studied of these methods has been Early Intensive Behavioral Interventions (EIBI). This package of ABA methods is unique in two…

Children with autism often struggle with executive function (EF) deficits, particularly with regard to working memory (WM). Despite the documented deficits in these areas, very little controlled research has evaluated treatments for remediation of EF or WM deficits in children with autism. This study examined the use of positive reinforcement for…

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often exhibit impaired executive function (EF) performance, including difficulty with working memory (WM), in particular. While research has documented the existence of these deficits, surprisingly little research exists that evaluates potential treatment strategies for improving EF or WM. One…

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a behavioral skills training package on task engagement in six young adults with high-functioning ASD who worked in a regular job-training setting. Experimental sessions were implemented in a small-group training format in a therapy room using unknown tasks. Data were collected on participant's off-task…

When injections are necessary, young people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) may exhibit responses that compromise their health care. Parents often report that their children with ASD struggle or attempt to flee when immunizations or other injections are attempted. This report describes our evaluation of procedures that enable children to…

This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of a simplified habit reversal procedure (SHR) using differential reinforcement of incompatible behaviour (DRI) and a stimulus prompt (GaitSpot Auditory Squeakers) to reduce the frequency of idiopathic toe-walking (ITW) and increase the frequency of correct heel-to-toe-walking in three children with…

A limited number of studies have investigated the effects of behavioral skills training (BST) on staff acquisition and generalization of discrete trial teaching (DTT) and student behavior. BST was used to improve three staff's use of DTT interactions with four children with autism. A multiple baseline design across participants was used to assess…