Reading comprehension difficulties have been associated with poor vocabulary knowledge of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Research has shown that Dialogic Reading (DR) interventions may remediate these deficits. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of two DR intervention protocols on the vocabulary knowledge of…

We evaluated a procedure for teaching two children, one typically developing and one with autism, a higher-order generalized operant response class of unscrambling sight words. The procedures were efficacious in teaching the participants to unscramble words appearing in isolation and in the context of a sentence, with 98% of the presented…

In a "class inclusion" task, a child must respond to stimuli as being involved in two different though hierarchically related categories. This study used a Relational Frame Theory (RFT) paradigm to assess and train this ability in three typically developing preschoolers and three individuals with autism spectrum disorder, all of whom had…

Inferential readings skills are necessary in ensuring that students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are successful in the general education curriculum. These skills provide a foundation for reading comprehension across content areas. Technology-aided instruction and intervention (TAII) has the potential to address these reading deficits, by…

Social competence training for adults with ASD were limited in comparison to intervention for children or adolescents. CBT-CSCA is a culturally-sensitive social competence training specially developed for adolescents in Hong Kong. With its demonstrated effectiveness, the current study outlined the adaptions of its adult version, CBT-CSCA (Adult)…

Previous research has shown that various prompting procedures are effective in teaching skills to children and adults with developmental disabilities. Simultaneous prompting includes proving a prompt immediately following an instruction; whereas constant time-delay procedures include a set time delay (i.e., 5 s or 10 s) prior to delivering a…

Both scripted lessons and unscripted task analyzed lessons have been used effectively to teach science content to students with intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder. This study evaluated the efficacy, efficiency, and teacher preference of scripted and unscripted task analyzed lesson plans from an elementary science curriculum…

A lack of numerical knowledge early on can impede a child's academic development. In past research, playing linear board games improved children's understanding of numerical relations, which the authors theorised could extend to children with autism spectrum disorder. For this pilot study, 10 children played a board game where they moved tokens…

Objectives: To explore how much people with Asperger's syndrome know and understand about early attachment behaviors and whether this knowledge can be increased through a DVD. Methods: Adults with Asperger's syndrome who were not parents (N = 28) took part in four experimental conditions: Baseline, pre-intervention, post-intervention, and…

The role of technology has increased in our everyday lives and continues to develop. Research has shown that technology can visually support language and communication in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) (Shane, Laubscher, Schlosser, Flynn, Sorce, & Abramson, 2012). This research study is designed to measure the impact of…

The use of a simple-conditional discrimination training procedure, in which stimuli are initially taught in isolation with no other comparison stimuli, is common in early intensive behavioral intervention programs. Researchers have suggested that this procedure may encourage the development of faulty stimulus control during training. The current…

Few published studies have systematically compared the efficacy of different prompt-fading methods in the training of complex response chains. The current study systematically compared a most-to-least physical prompt fading hierarchy with a most-to-least vocal prompt fading strategy in the training of four arbitrary Tinkertoy® construction tasks…

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the initial efficacy of a parent-assisted blended intervention combining components of Structured TEACCHing and Social Thinking, designed to increase social communication and self-regulation concept knowledge in 1st and 2nd graders (n = 17) diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their parents.…

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the initial efficacy of a parent-assisted blended intervention combining components of Structured TEACCHing and Social Thinking, designed to increase social communication and self-regulation concept knowledge in 1st and 2nd graders (n = 17) diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their parents.…

Today, the use of formal preference assessments, including paired-stimulus preference assessments, is widely utilized to help determine which items to use as reinforcers during intervention. A second way to determine potential reinforcers is to analyze multiple dimensions of a stimulus in the moment, a procedure known as in-the-moment reinforcer…