Comparing development-matched and age-matched play targets: A replication and extension.

Previous research has supported selecting development-matched targets rather than age-matched targets to teach play skills to children with autism spectrum disorder. However, few studies have been conducted, and replications and extensions of this research are needed. The current study replicated Pane et al.

A comparison of development-matched and age-matched targets on play skills of children with autism spectrum disorder.

Although neurotypical children often spend the majority of their time engaged in play activities, children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can present with substantial delays in the development of play skills, requiring intensive intervention. Although targets for language and basic learning skills are often selected based on the development of neurotypical children (e.g.

Evaluating function-based Social Stories™ with children with autism.

Social Stories™ are often used with children with autism to provide information about appropriate behaviors in specific contexts. Although Social Stories™ often target reduction of problem behavior, there is limited research evaluating function-based Social Stories™ based on the results of experimental functional analyses. This study used a brief functional analysis to assist in developing a Social Story™ that matched the function of the target behavior for two boys with autism.