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…

Functional communication training, an intervention for challenging behavior rooted in principles of applied behavior analysis, has copious empirical support dating back to the mid-1980s for autistic individuals. Recently, there has been a concerted effort to thin reinforcement delivery during functional communication training using…

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effects of cooperative physical activities on social interactions of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in China. Cooperative physical activities include procedures such as peer selection, peer practice, group task completion, and an interdependent group contingency. The intervention took…

Face scanning is an important skill that takes place in a highly interactive context embedded within social interaction. However, previous research has studied face scanning using noninteractive stimuli. We aimed to study face scanning and social interaction in infancy in a more ecologically valid way by providing infants with a naturalistic and…

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often have difficulties initiating and maintaining reciprocal conversations with others. In this study, we examined if an interdependent group contingency would improve reciprocal conversation of children with ASD when they were paired as conversational partners. We also assessed children's social…

A forced-choice preference assessment using pictures and no access upon selection was used to determine preferences for community-based activities with 4 young adults with autism and intellectual disability. High- and low-preference activities were then provided as delayed consequences, using a token economy, for completion of vocational tasks in…

Multitreatment designs were used to evaluate the relative effectiveness of multicomponent Stay, Play, Talk (SPT) interventions on peer social behaviors for two groups of children, each including one Participant With Autism Spectrum Disorder (PWA) and two socially competent peers. Children were trained to use buddy strategies during 5-min free-play…

The graduated reinforcement procedure (also known as differential reinforcement) is an often-used procedure in the field of Applied Behavior Analysis to teach new skills and increase pro-social behaviors. In this study, the researchers used a multi-element design to evaluated the graduated reinforcement procedure for six children with a diagnosis…

Research has identified a variety of effective approaches for responding to errors during discrete-trial training. In one commonly used method, the therapist delivers a prompt contingent on the occurrence of an incorrect response and then re-presents the trial so that the learner has an opportunity to perform the correct response independently.…

Research on stimulus-stimulus pairing to induce novel vocalizations in nonverbal children has typically employed response-independent pairing (RIP) procedures to condition speech sounds as reinforcers. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effects of a response-contingent pairing (RCP) procedure on the vocalizations of three…

Many teachers struggle with implementing self-help eating goals for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). No group programs exist to target this important problem. We used findings from applied behavior analysis research and adapted single-subject interventions into a group-based eating program. In describing the program using two…

Research suggests that many children with ASD are visual learners (Quill, 1997) and may struggle to comprehend expectations presented in a verbal mode only. Visually structured interventions present choices, expectations, tasks, and communication exchanges in a way that is appealing and approachable for visual learners. There are many types of…

The present study examined the Daily Report Card (DRC) intervention in high-functioning students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The DRC is a commonly employed behavioral intervention for treating children with disruptive and off-task behaviors in schools. To implement a DRC, teachers and parents work collaboratively to create an…

In today's autistic-support classrooms, paraeducators are tasked with working with our neediest students yet report that they are unprepared for their roles despite attempts at training. The special education teachers who are tasked with coaching and supervising several paraeducators at a time in their classrooms report that they too are…

Several studies have suggested that contingent adult imitation increase nonverbal communication, such as attention and proximity to adults, in children with autism spectrum disorders. However, few studies have shown the effect of contingent imitation on verbal communication. This study examined whether children with autism were able to promote…