We examined the effects of constructed-response matching-to-sample (CRMTS) training on the generalization of reading and spelling skills in three Japanese children with autism using a series of overlapping-syllable word sets. We taught them to construct printed words to match printed words, spoken words, and pictures through the CRMTS procedure.…

Beginning with Kanner's (1943) seminal article on autism, through the current DSM-IV-R criteria for the disorder, children have been described as having difficulty with seeing overall gestalts, due to excess attention to the constituent part. In current terms, children with autism have been found to process objects at the local level differently,…

Previous research has shown that children with autism often have deficits in deception, both in the ability to lie to others and in the ability to detect when they are being lied to. Additionally, children with autism are frequently the victims of bullying and difficulty with understanding deception likely makes the population more vulnerable to…

Research on the high-probability (high-p) request sequence shows that compliance with low-probability (low-p) requests generally increases when preceded by a series of high-p requests. Few studies have conducted formal preference assessments to identify the consequences used for compliance, which may partly explain treatment failures, and still…

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) routinely fail false belief tests of theory of mind (ToM), even at advanced chronological and mental ages. Initial training efforts were largely disappointing for those with ASD, suggesting an intractable deficit. However, more recently, children with ASD trained with various pictorial strategies…

Question asking behavior, or requesting information, is often deficient in children with autism and can prove challenging to teach. Currently, there exists a paucity of research regarding the types of teaching strategies that are effective in teaching children with autism this crucial skill. The purpose of the present study was to examine…

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…

In general terms a mand is a requesting response. Teaching children with autism to mand for information is often a difficult task given their language deficits. The present study examined a procedure consisting of contrived motivating operations, prompt fading, manded consequences, error correction, and a brief preference assessment for teaching…

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…

Computer-assisted instruction (CAI) is used to teach a variety of skills to children with developmental disabilities. However, it remains unclear whether CAI or direct instruction from a therapist produces better learning outcomes. In addition, no studies have evaluated the ease of training therapists to implement CAI versus direct instruction. In…

The typical development (TD) of social cognition could be rooted in the implicit notion that others are like the self. Although many studies show their impairment of social orienting, such a primary notion in children with autistic disorder (AD) has not been known. The present paper examined the responses of children with AD to stimuli such as…

Although the demand for training individuals to implement discrete-trials teaching (DTT) is high, published studies on strategies to do so are few. We used a modified multiple-baseline design across participants to evaluate a training package for teaching university students to implement a 19-component DTT procedure to teach three tasks to a…