Assessing and teaching job‐related social skills to adults with autism spectrum disorder

Few studies have evaluated interventions to improve the job‐related social skills of adults with autism spectrum disorder. In this study, we examined the efficacy of a treatment package for teaching several social skills that are critical to job success, such as responding appropriately to feedback and asking for a task model from the supervisor. Three adults, aged 19 to 27 years, participated. Initial training of each skill consisted of verbal explanations, modeling, and role‐play with feedback, along with stimulus prompts to promote generalization to a different setting. The trainer introduced additional intervention components as needed. We also evaluated generalization across different social skills and evocative situations. Results indicated that the treatment package was generally effective in improving the targeted social skills, and that stimulus prompts may be necessary for generalization to a job setting. However, generalized responding across social skills rarely emerged. These findings have important implications for preparing individuals with autism to function successfully on the job.     

PROGRAMMING “LOOSE TRAINING” AS A STRATEGY TO FACILITATE LANGUAGE GENERALIZATION

This study investigated the generalization of spontaneous complex language behavior across a nontraining setting and the durability of generalization as a result of programming and “loose training” strategy. A within-subject, across-behaviors multiple-baseline design was used to examine the performance of two moderately retarded students in the use of is/are across three syntactic structures (i.e., “wh” questions, “yes/no” reversal questions, and statements). The language training procedure used in this study represented a functional example of programming “loose training.” The procedure involved conducting concurrent language training within the context of an academic training task, and establishing a functional reduction in stimulus control by permitting the student to initiate a language response based on a wide array of naturally occurring stimulus events. Concurrent probes were conducted in the free play setting to assess the immediate generalization and the durability of the language behaviors. The results demonstrated that “loose training” was effective in establishing a specific set of language responses with the participants of this investigation. Further, both students demonstrated spontaneous use of the language behavior in the free play generalization setting and a trend was clearly evident for generalization to continue across time. Thus, the methods used appear to be successful for training the use of is/are in three syntactic structures.     

Teaching social skills to emotionally disturbed adolescent inpatients

A social skills training program was evaluated with emotionally disturbed adolescent inpatients. The targeted social skills required an action or reaction within six skill areas. The program was adapted from a commercially available social skills training game that features the use of response specific feedback, self-monitoring, individualized reinforcers, and individualized performance criteria. A peer conducted the baseline and posttraining sessions while the training was conducted by an adult who had no previous interactive history with the subjects. A multiple baseline design across groups demonstrated that the program increased appropriate responding in all skill areas and that these effects generalized during the posttraining peer conducted sessions. A generalization test indicated that the subjects used their newly learned skills with a novel adult outside the training setting. The program appears quite applicable to emotionally disturbed adolescents since it targets skills in a variety of areas and employs standardized procedures to enhance replicability.     

TRAINED,GENERALIZED, AND COLLATERAL BEHAVIOR CHANGES OF PRESCHOOL CHILDREN RECEIVING GROSS-MOTOR SKILLS TRAINING

Three preschool children participated in a behavioral training program to improve their gross-motor skills. Ten target behaviors were measured in the training setting to assess direct effects of the program. Generalization probes for two gross-motor behaviors, one fine-motor skill, and two social behaviors were conducted in other settings. Results indicated that the training program improved the gross-motor skills trained and that improvements sometimes generalized to other settings. Contrary to suggestions in educational literature, the gross-motor training program did not produce changes in fine-motor skills or social behaviors. Implications for educators and for the development of the technology of generalization are outlined.     

TEACHING ABDUCTION‐PREVENTION SKILLS TO CHILDREN WITH AUTISM

Three children with autism were taught abduction‐prevention skills using behavioral skills training with in situ feedback. All children acquired the skills, which were maintained at a 1‐month follow‐up assessment. In addition, 1 of the children demonstrated the skills during a stimulus generalization probe in a community setting.     

Social skills: A review of cognitive-behavioral training procedures with children

Thirty-one studies utilizing cognitive-behavioral procedures to train social skills were reviewed. The review was organized around six methodological issues: (a) age of subjects; (b) training procedures; (c) outcome measures; (d) research design; (e) evidence for generalization; and (f) social validation. Suggestions for future applied research are discussed, such as investigations regarding developmental changes in socially skilled behavior, increased use of multiple dependent measures, more intensive programming for generalization, and the establishment of the social importance of the effects of social skills training programs.     

EFFECTS OF SELF-MANAGEMENT TRAINING AND REINFORCEMENT ON THE TRANSFER OF IMPROVED CONDUCT IN THE ABSENCE OF SUPERVISION

The instruction, maintenance, and transfer of training of social skills of 3 seriously emotionally disturbed adolescents were accomplished by a self-management training and reinforcement package. During baseline sessions these students, who were covertly filmed in their classroom, averaged over 90% off-task or socially inappropriate behavior while their teacher was out of the room. They showed similar behaviors when walking between classes, unattended by their teacher. Treatment was introduced in the classroom and consisted of social skills and self-management training and reinforcement. Treatment procedures included instruction, modeling, and role playing of social skills, as well as self-assessment, self-recording, and self-reinforcement for correct approximations of these skills. After 5 weeks of training, all subjects demonstrated substantial improvements in the classroom during the teacher's absence and when distracted by other students; however, transfer of social skills did not occur to the between-class setting until students were given explicit instruction to initiate self-managing procedures in this setting.     

Problems with Danforth's Early Diagnosis and Observational Bias in Behavior Management

ABSTRACT

Many children diagnosed with Attention-Deficit/Hyper-activity Disorder (ADHD) experience difficulties in social relations. While psychosocial approaches based on a combination of skills training and contingency management approaches do appear to improve social behavior, evidence that these benefits generalize and persist following training has been limited. We describe a social skills training program designed to help parents promote the display of appropriate social behavior and better athletic performance in sports settings. The program consists of standard psychological assessment, behavioral parent training, functional assessment, parent-mediated social and sports skills coaching, and generalization and maintenance programming. The goals of this intervention are to promote retention of the child in team sports and facilitate friendship acquisition. Training parents to coach their children effectively in sports-related social skills may prove useful in promoting the maintenance and generalization of skills as well as preventing some of the negative effects of social isolation that frequently accompany an ADHD diagnosis.     

The effects of multiple-exemplar self-instructional training on high school students' generalized conversational interactions

A multiple-baseline-across-students design was used to investigate the effects of multiple-exemplar self-instructional training on the acquisition and generalization of conversational interaction of 4 high school students with mental retardation. The multiple-exemplar component of the model consisted of (a) several peers without disabilities teaching the use of a self-instructional social skills strategy across diverse examples of conversational interactions and across two settings and (b) assessing the generalized effects of training across additional peers and one setting. Findings indicated that peers were effective in teaching the multiple-exemplar strategy and that peer training was associated with systematic increases in generalized conversational interactions with familiar and unfamiliar peers with and without disabilities in an additional setting. Social validation data indicated that following multiple-exemplar training, all participants' performances approximated those of general education students and was judged by others to have improved.     

ASSESSING AND PROGRAMMING GENERALIZED BEHAVIORAL REDUCTION ACROSS MULTIPLE STIMULUS PARAMETERS

Generalization across three stimulus parameters was examined for 5 individuals whose self-injurious behavior was maintained by escape from task demands. Prior to treatment, three stimulus parameters (therapist, setting, and demands) were systematically varied across baseline sessions. These variables were held constant during treatment, which consisted of escape extinction. When treatment was completed, three novel stimulus parameters were probed. If the rate of self-injury was high during this probe, treatment was reimplemented with one new stimulus parameter (the other two were the same as in the original treatment condition). Following this second treatment, another probe with three novel stimuli was conducted. If the rate of self-injury was again high, treatment was implemented again while a second stimulus parameter was changed. This sequence continued until generalization was observed across the three parameters. Results showed idiosyncratic differences in generalization. The behavior of 2 subjects showed complete generalization during the first novel probe. A 3rd subject's behavior showed generalization following treatment across two stimulus parameters (setting and therapist). The behavior of the 2 remaining subjects showed a complete lack of generalization across the three parameters; both subjects required training for novelty by randomly varying the stimulus parameters for a substantial number of sessions.     

ACQUISITION,GENERALIZATION, AND MAINTENANCE OF QUESTION-ANSWERING SKILLS IN AUTISTIC CHILDREN

We conducted an investigation to evaluate the effects of a training strategy for teaching autistic students generalized responses to three forms of wh— questions (what, how, and why). Students were taught, using modeling and reinforcement procedures, to answer questions with magazine pictures as the referents. Each question form was divided into two or more subcomponents reflective of common social usage and was taught within the context of a modified multiple probe design across subcomponents. Following acquisition of each subcomponent, generalization to natural context and storybook questions was assessed; additional probes were conducted to assess responding over time and whether acquisition of responses to questions promoted question-asking skills. Results showed that the picture training procedure was effective in teaching a generalized response to questions for which the relevant cue was visible, whereas specific generalization programming was required for situations in which the relevant cue was not visible. All acquired responses were durable over time.     

Conversational skills training with a chronically hospitalized psychiatric inpatient

While conversational skills training has been conducted with select psychiatric populations, it has rarely been used with severely debilitated inpatients. The purpose of this study was to use a multiple baseline design across conversational components to evaluate the effectiveness of a conversational skills training package to enhance the conversational repertoire of a severely impaired inpatient. Audiotaped conversations with a standard confederate were evaluated for the frequency of questions, self-disclosures, and reinforcing/acknowledging comments. Generalization probe conversations to novel partners were also obtained. Training effects were noted for the 3 conversational units. Mixed results were obtained for generalization and follow-up.     

Caregivers can implement play-based instruction without disrupting child preference

Young children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder often require systematic teaching to learn new skills, and caregivers can teach their children by embedding learning opportunities in a play-based context. However, researchers have not evaluated procedures to train caregivers how to implement a combination of strategies designed to establish rapport and early language skills while maintaining play as a preferred context. Caregiver–child dyads composed of 2 mothers and their sons were recruited to participate. A multiple-probe design across strategies was used to demonstrate the efficacy of behavioral skills training on the mothers' integration of parallel play, child-directed interaction, teaching requests (mands), and teaching labels (tacts). Both children acquired the target requests and labels as a function of their mothers' teaching. By assessing the children's preferences, we confirmed the teaching strategies did not decrease toy engagement or the value of playing with their mother. We obtained stimulus generalization of the mothers' implementation of the strategies from a clinic to their home and maintenance of mother and child performance across a month.     

An evaluation of in situ training to teach sexual abuse prevention skills to women with mental retardation

The current study evaluated a behavioral skills training (BST) program in combination with in situ training to teach sexual abuse prevention skills to five women with mild to moderate mental retardation. In situ assessments were conducted following BST and in situ training sessions were conducted for those who were unable to demonstrate the skills in the natural setting. The results showed that generalization of the safety skills to the natural setting occurred for three of the five participants following one to two in situ training sessions. One participant required 12 in situ training sessions and three booster training sessions to reach criterion level. Three of four participants assessed 1 month following training maintained the skills. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of computer‐aided instruction on the implementation of the MSWO stimulus preference assessment

This study evaluated a self‐instructional online training package to teach students and staff to conduct a stimulus preference assessment using the multiple‐stimulus without replacement procedure. The training package included a self‐instructional manual and video modeling and was delivered online. Training was evaluated using a multiple‐probe design across a total of six university students and four staff members. Overall, students improved from a mean of 35% correct in baseline to a mean of 94% correct following training, and staff improved from a mean of 23% correct in baseline to a mean of 87% correct following training. During retention and generalization simulated assessments conducted from 7 to 17 days following training, all participants performed considerably above baseline. The online delivery of the self‐instructional manual plus video modeling has tremendous potential for providing an effective method for teaching individuals to conduct stimulus preference assessments without face‐to‐face instruction.     

Sharing in preschool children: Facilitation, stimulus generalization, response generalization, and maintenance

Three approaches to facilitating verbal and physical sharing and of the generalizability and durability of the behaviors that were trained were investigated. During a free play period, groups of preschool children were taught to share verbally, to share physically, or to share verbally and physically; another group was not trained. Immediately following free play, the children were observed in a different setting. Follow-up was conducted 4 weeks after training ended. Physical sharing that was durable and generalizable resulted only when children were taught to share verbally. Increases in physical sharing produced by training children to share only physically were not durable and did not generalize. Training both verbal and physical sharing produced results with a magnitude slightly greater than teaching just verbal sharing. Despite a lack of special programming, some of the treatment effects generalized to another setting and were maintained during the Follow-up. There was response generalization of the effects of training verbal sharing to physical sharing but not vice versa. Problems with the concept of response class, a methodological suggestion for studying response generalization, and possibilities concerning why generalization and maintenance occurred without specific programming are discussed.     

Establishing a normal peer as a behavioral model for developmentally delayed toddlers.

The present investigation demonstrated a systematic teaching procedure for establishing a normal toddler as a peer-model for three children showing delayed development, each one under 27 mo. of age. For each delayed subject, training consisted of adult-directed prompting and social reinforcement contingent upon the delayed children's imitations of material use and motor responses emitted by a normal peer. Within-subjects multiple-baseline designs across responses were used to demonstrate intrasubject control over imitative responding. Indices of stimulus and response generalization were assessed through having the peer-model present the trained responses along with untrained responses in a situation free of adult prompting and social reinforcement for imitative responding. Results indicated that the training in peer-imitation was successful for establishing the peer-model's behavior in a stimulus control relationship with the imitative responding of the delayed children. Moreover, the findings generally demonstrated transfer of training across stimulus situations and responses. Implications for educational programming with developmentally delayed children are discussed.     

GENERALIZATION EFFECTS FROM INTRATHERAPY ARTICULATION TRAINING: A CASE STUDY1

This study analyzed generalization effects found associated with a language-training intervention to modify the articulation (/f/ phoneme) of a 3.5-year-old boy. The McLean and Raymore Stimulus Shift Articulation Program was implemented by the subject's mother. This language training program is designed to produce setting generalization effects based on an intratherapy training model (i.e., systematic training is applied in a single setting to promote transfer effects to nontraining environments). The intervention resulted in a significant improvement in the subject's production of the /f/ phoneme within the clinical setting in response to untrained stimuli (stimulus generalization). Additionally, the subject's correct phoneme production was observed to generalize to his home and school settings (setting generalization) under “opportunity loaded” (picture prompts) and “spontaneous” (no prompts) conditions. The results provide case-study evidence that stimulus generalization, both within and across settings, may occur with exclusively intratherapy articulation training.     

Developing and maintaining social interaction in profoundly retarded young males

Social interaction was increased in five profoundly retarded males using formal training, stimulus control, and rewarded generalization procedures. Seven behaviors were monitored for each boy to determine whether correlated changes occurred in maladaptive behaviors as social interaction varied over the several phases of a withdrawal design that included multiple-baseline features. All five boys increased their social interaction and reduced unoccupied and self-stimulatory behavior. These changes were maintained as continuous reinforcement was reduced to a single response-contingent reinforcer per 15- minute session. Four follow-up probes showed the stability of the changes.This study was conducted with the excellent cooperation of the staff of Little Boys Ward and the Foster Grandparent Program at Colin Anderson Center, St. Mary's, West Virginia, and with the continued support of W. E. Richards, superintendent.