1. Akers JS, Higbee TS, Pollard JS, Reinert KS. {{Sibling-Implemented Script Fading to Promote Play-Based Statements of Children with Autism}}. {Behav Anal Pract};2018 (Dec 31);11(4):395-399.
We trained three typically developing children to implement a script-fading procedure with their younger siblings with autism. The number of contextually appropriate statements made by the children with autism increased once treatment was initiated. Participants continued to emit higher levels of contextually appropriate statements after the scripts were completely faded and at a 4- or 11-week follow-up. The typically developing siblings were able to implement the script-fading procedure with high levels of fidelity.
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2. Bassette L, Kulwicki J, Dieringer ST, Zoder-Martell KA, Heneisen R. {{The Use of a Multicomponent Behavioral Intervention to Promote Physical Activity in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders across Inclusive Community Settings}}. {Behav Anal Pract};2018 (Dec 31);11(4):358-369.
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are generally less physically active than individuals without disability due to factors such as lack of motor coordination and inadequate transportation resources that can result in various barriers to participation. This affects their independence and may interfere with expectations (e.g., employment) during adulthood. It is essential to explore ways to teach physical activity so people with ASD can generalize skills in community settings. This study examined the effect of a multicomponent behavioral intervention that included (a) the Exercise Buddy application, (b) a system of least prompts, (c) an incremental increase of criteria, and (d) reinforcement to teach three adolescents with ASD functional movement exercises (e.g., squat). All participants increased their mastery of performing these exercises compared to baseline and generalized these skills across two community settings.
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3. Beier C. {{Letter to the Editor: An Autism Parent’s Response to Papatola and Lustig’s Paper on Navigating a Managed Care Peer Review in Behavior Analysis in Practice}}. {Behav Anal Pract};2018 (Dec 31);11(4):517-518.
An autism parent disputes the authors’ premise that the role of the BCBA is to « transition treatment to parents. » Parents cannot simply « take over » all the advanced degrees, thousands of hours of coursework practicum and exams, or depth and breadth of scientific knowledge required to earn a BCBA any more than we can (or should) « take over » our kids’ pediatric care or prescribe their meds. Papatola and Lustig’s employer, Cigna Behavioral Health, recently made « transition treatment to parents » a criterion of medical necessity for ABA.
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4. Doherty A, Bracken M, Gormley L. {{Teaching Children with Autism to Initiate and Respond to Peer Mands Using Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS)}}. {Behav Anal Pract};2018 (Dec 31);11(4):279-288.
We evaluated the effects of systematic prompting plus reinforcement on listeners’ independent responses to peer mands and on speakers’ peer-directed mands using the picture exchange communication system (PECS) in two studies. In Study 1, three PECS users with a diagnosis of autism were trained to direct PECS exchanges toward peers, whereas in Study 2, three peers with autism were taught to accept a PECS card, select the requested item from an array of three items, and place it in front of their peer. Study 1 showed an increase in peer PECS mands that generalized to novel trained peers for all participants. Results of Study 2 demonstrated an increase in correct independent responses to PECS exchange for all participants, a response that readily generalized across peers and settings for two out of three participants. These results suggest that this intervention protocol may be an effective way to increase interactions between peers with autism.
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5. Fejzo M, Kam A, Laguna A, MacGibbon K, Mullin P. {{Analysis of neurodevelopmental delay in children exposed in utero to hyperemesis gravidarum reveals increased reporting of autism spectrum disorder}}. {Reprod Toxicol};2018 (Dec 27)
The purpose of this study was to follow up on the reporting of neurodevelopmental disorders in children exposed in utero to Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG). This was an exploratory descriptive study whereby neurodevelopmental outcomes of 267 children delivered by 177 mothers with HG were compared to neurodevelopmental outcomes from 93 children delivered by 60 unaffected mothers. Similar to at age 8, the children (now 12) exposed in utero to HG had over 3-fold increase in odds of neurodevelopmental disorders including attention, anxiety, sensory, sleep difficulty, and social development delay/social anxiety. However, with the longer follow-up, there was also a significant increase in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), reported in 22/267 (8%) of children exposed to HG in utero and no unexposed children. As early intervention for ASD can be critical to prognosis, larger studies are urgently needed to determine whether ASD is associated with exposure to HG.
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6. Jacques C, Courchesne V, Meilleur AS, Mineau S, Ferguson S, Cousineau D, Labbe A, Dawson M, Mottron L. {{What interests young autistic children? An exploratory study of object exploration and repetitive behavior}}. {PLoS One};2018;13(12):e0209251.
Behaviors characterized as restricted and repetitive (RRBs) in autism manifest in diverse ways, from motor mannerisms to intense interests, and are diagnostically defined as interfering with functioning. A variety of early autism interventions target RRBs as preoccupying young autistic children to the detriment of exploration and learning opportunities. In an exploratory study, we developed a novel stimulating play situation including objects of potential interest to autistic children, then investigated repetitive behaviors and object explorations in 49 autistic and 43 age-matched typical young children (20-69 months). Autistic children displayed significantly increased overall frequency and duration of repetitive behaviors, as well as increased specific repetitive behaviors. However, groups did not significantly differ in frequency and duration of overall object explorations, in number of different objects explored, or in explorations of specific objects. Exploratory analyses found similar or greater exploration of literacy-related objects in autistic compared to typical children. Correlations between repetitive behaviors and object explorations (their frequency and duration) revealed positive, not negative, associations in both groups. Our findings, from a novel situation incorporating potential autistic interests, suggest that RRBs do not necessarily displace exploration and its possibilities for learning in autism.
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7. Peters LC, Thompson RH. {{How Teaching Perspective Taking to Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders Affects Social Skills: Findings from Research and Suggestions for Practitioners}}. {Behav Anal Pract};2018 (Dec 31);11(4):467-478.
Behavior-analytic practitioners working with individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) may be approached to incorporate perspective taking into a client’s programming. Teaching perspective taking to individuals with ASDs has received attention in both the developmental psychology and, more recently, the behavior-analytic literature. The results of our review of the current evidence suggest that although perspective-taking repertoires believed to be related to social skills can be taught (false belief task performance, deictic frames), only directly teaching the social skills of interest (or applied perspective-taking skills) results in improvements in socially important behavior. The aim of this article is to provide practitioners with the current state of research on how teaching perspective taking affects social skills and to provide suggestions on how these findings might be incorporated into their practice.
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8. Quigley J, Griffith AK, Kates-McElrath K. {{A Comparison of Modeling, Prompting, and a Multi-component Intervention for Teaching Play Skills to Children with Developmental Disabilities}}. {Behav Anal Pract};2018 (Dec 31);11(4):315-326.
Play skills are an essential component of a learner’s repertoire, allowing access to social interactions with peers and adults. Children with developmental disabilities frequently require explicit teaching to acquire play skills rather than acquiring them through natural learning opportunities. Without targeted practice, these deficits could continue to expand, separating the children from their typically developing peers. This study aimed to teach three children with developmental disabilities independent play skills in the form of building blocks with a diagram. We evaluated three methods of teaching play skills, prompting, modeling, and a multi-component approach, within an alternating treatment design to determine which, if any, is most effective. Each teaching strategy included a three-step prompting hierarchy and was paired with an edible reinforcer delivered following independence. Successful responses at the targeted prompt level resulted in verbal praise. Following intervention, the rate of successful responses and independent responses increased across all three participants.
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9. Romani PW, Alcorn AS, Linares J. {{Improving Accuracy of Data Collection on a Psychiatric Unit for Children Diagnosed With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities}}. {Behav Anal Pract};2018 (Dec 31);11(4):307-314.
Data collection is a hallmark of effective behavior-analytic therapy. Collecting accurate data permits a behavior analyst to evaluate the effectiveness of behavioral treatment. The current study evaluated the use of a clicker, simplified observation, and a timer to improve accuracy of data collection on a psychiatric unit for children diagnosed with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Experiment 1, conducted within a combined multiple-baseline across-participants and reversal design, was an evaluation to identify an intervention package for four participants employed by the psychiatric unit. Interventions yielding the highest interobserver agreement (IOA) were highly individualized. Thus, we selected the most comprehensive intervention and exposed four additional participants to this intervention during Experiment 2. Results showed that this intervention improved IOA for these additional participants as evaluated within a multiple-baseline across-participants design. Results of the current study will be discussed to assist other behavior analysts in improving data-collection practices in hospital or school settings.
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10. Schmick AM, Stanley CR, Dixon MR. {{Teaching Children with Autism to Identify Private Events of Others in Context}}. {Behav Anal Pract};2018 (Dec 31);11(4):400-405.
Many children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder have difficulties identifying and labeling emotions of others. Three adolescent males all diagnosed with ASD participated in the study. In a multi-element design, the participants were trained to tact private events of others in context using novel video-based scenarios. Two of the three participants were able to increase and maintain their responding for all trained, derived, and transformation of stimulus function relations. The third participant required multiple-exemplar training of novel stimuli to increase his responding for all the video-based scenarios. The results of the study support the utility of relational training for teaching children with autism to identify private events of others in context.
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11. Talbott MR, Young GS, Munson J, Estes A, Vismara LA, Rogers SJ. {{The Developmental Sequence and Relations Between Gesture and Spoken Language in Toddlers With Autism Spectrum Disorder}}. {Child Dev};2018 (Dec 31)
In typical development, gestures precede and predict language development. This study examines the developmental sequence of expressive communication and relations between specific gestural and language milestones in toddlers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), who demonstrate marked difficulty with gesture production and language. Communication skills across five stages (gestures, word approximations, first words, gesture-word combinations, and two-word combinations) were assessed monthly by blind raters for toddlers with ASD participating in an randomized control trial of parent-mediated treatment (N = 42, 12-30 months). Findings revealed that toddlers acquired skills following a reliable (vs. idiosyncratic) sequence and the majority of toddlers combined gestures with words before combining words in speech, but in contrast to the pattern observed in typical development, a significant subset acquired pointing after first words.
