Top-ranked items were identified during 30-min free-operant preference assessments for 9 individuals. Data from each session were analyzed to identify the item (a) that was engaged with first in each session and (b) to which the most responding was allocated after 5 min, 10 min, 15 min, 20 min, and 25 min had elapsed in each session. The results…

Children with autism have deficits in social interaction, including the failure to engage in sharing responses. Four children with autism were taught a sharing response chain. The treatment package (manual guidance, auditory prompts, and contingent access to toy play and social interaction with the recipient instructor) was introduced successively…

Two experiments with four autistic children (ages 5-13) demonstrated that reinforcement of appropriate toy play was an effective means of reducing disruptive behaviors of autistic children in unsupervised settings. (Author/DB)

A study examined idiosyncratic environment-behavior relations associated with increased levels of problem behavior of a child with mental retardation and a typical child. Results indicated that idiosyncratic antecedent stimuli set the occasion for occurrences of problem behavior and that the behavior persisted in the absence of social…