Teaching Joint Attention: Assessing Generalization and Maintenance of Effects using Multiple Exemplar Training.

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effects of multiple exemplar training and social reinforcement on the maintenance and generalization of joint attention initiations across toy classes. Three children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) participated. After analyzing samples of joint attention initiations from neurotypical peers, a composite score was developed and used to evaluate joint attention initiations of the children with ASD.

Sequential analysis of autonomic arousal and self-injurious behavior.

There have been limited direct tests of the hypothesis that self-injurious behavior (SIB) regulates arousal. In this study, two autonomic biomarkers for physiological arousal (heart rate [HR] and the high-frequency [HF] component of heart rate variability [HRV]) were investigated in relation to SIB for 3 participants with intellectual disabilities. Second-by-second correlations were examined using time series statistical models.