Teaching social play skills to adults and children with autism as an approach to building rapport.

Adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and no intellectual disabilities were taught to increase the social play skills of children with ASD as part of a vocational training program. Participants included 3 adults, aged 21 to 27 years, and 6 children with ASD. Probes conducted throughout the study evaluated whether play skills training affected a measure of rapport between the adult and child.

Reduction of aggression evoked by sounds using noncontingent reinforcement and time-out.

Some individuals with developmental disabilities engage in problem behavior to escape or avoid auditory stimuli. In this study, a 6-year-old boy with autism engaged in severe aggression in the presence of specific sounds. Following an assessment based on the procedures described by McCord, Iwata, Galensky, Ellingson, and Thomson (2001), we treated negatively reinforced behavior using noncontingent reinforcement and time-out from positive reinforcement in the absence of extinction.

Adults with autism spectrum disorder as behavior technicians for young children with autism: Outcomes of a behavioral skills training program.

Adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), who were interested in working as behavior technicians for young children with autism, participated in 2 experiments. Participants included 5 adults with Asperger syndrome or pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified, 19 to 23 years old, and 11 children with autism, 3 to 7 years old. In Experiment 1, training of the adults focused on the implementation of mand training via incidental teaching.