We used a script-fading package to teach children with autism to initiate social interactions across various activities in the school setting, and we programmed for generalization in the untrained home setting with a sibling. The three participants, ages 8 to 10 years, demonstrated deficits in social initiations with their peers. During baseline,…

A critical component of teaching social skills to people with autism is the generalization of behavior change across a variety of untrained situations during which social skills are appropriate. The script-fading procedure is an effective technology for teaching social skills to people with autism, but few researchers have established cues in the…

Individuals with High Functioning ASD's (HFA) often have difficulties with adaptive functioning. Due to these deficits in independent functioning, many individuals with High-Functioning ASD's have limitations in adulthood. This study investigated if individuals with HFA would have a greater likelihood of learning independent adaptive daily living…

Play is, by definition, internally motivated, flexible, spontaneous and voluntary. Yet some researchers claim to have taught children with autism to play using behavioural interventions that are heavily structured, repetitive and make use of external reinforcements. In the current systematic review, we examine the extent to which these claims are…

Neurophysiological evidence is described showing that some neurons in the macaque inferior temporal visual cortex have responses that are invariant with respect to the position, size and view of faces and objects, and that these neurons show rapid processing and rapid learning. Which face or object is present is encoded using a distributed…

The authors review research on techniques to change social behavior, ranging from relatively simple manipulations of antecedent and consequent conditions to complex instructional "packages" involving didactic, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback procedures and examine issues involved in generalization of social skills training as well as ethical…

The purpose of this action research project was to improve the social skills of eight preschool students and four first grade and second grade students through the use of Social Stories and visual supports to create a more positive learning environment. The teacher researchers wanted to increase the social skills of students who had been diagnosed…

Three adolescent boys with autism were taught to offer assistance to a person stating inability to complete a task. Generalization of skills in a variety of settings varied across youths, although all three boys showed some transfer of skills to all conditions. (Author/DB)

A cognitive, nonintrusive method of controlling head-rocking behavior in an 11-year-old blind subject involved having the boy place his hand on his cheek or chin when prompted that he was rocking his head. The subject demonstrated significant decreases in head rocking during intervention and generalization during followup. (Author/JDD)

Background: Difficulties with social interaction and understanding lie at the heart of the communication disorder that characterises the autism spectrum. This study sought to improve social communication for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) by means of a groupwork intervention focusing on social and emotional perspective-taking,…

Reviews seven empirical studies that evaluate maintenance and generalization of effects of commercially available social skills training programs. Found that explicit attempts to foster generalization met with at least mixed success in six of seven studies. Concludes that combination of social skills training and alteration of consequences in…

Responds to article by DuPaul and Eckert on generalization and maintenance of behavior change resulting from packaged social skills training programs. Argues that DuPaul and Eckert focused their attention on generalization and ignored more immediate issue--that participation in these programs failed to produce meaningful change in social behavior.…

Responds to article by DuPaul and Eckert on generalization and maintenance of behavior change resulting from packaged social skills training programs. Agrees with DuPaul and Eckert and focuses commentary on identification and discussion of issues raised by suggestions to reprogram school environments to promote and change social behavior. (NB)

Responds to article by DuPaul and Eckert on generalization and maintenance of behavior change resulting from packaged social skills training programs. Discusses failure to obtain generalization from two perspectives: topographical generalization and functional generalization. Suggests that generalization programming based on functional analysis…

The effects of social skills training upon the behavior of eight previously institutionalized mentally retarded adults residing in community group homes were evaluated. In comparison to a control group, the Ss who received training showed substantial changes in the desirable direction for each behavior. (Author)