Association for Behavior Analysis International

There were 2 purposes of this study: (a) to quickly evaluate the effects of various self-management strategies on task completion of academic tasks within an outpatient clinic, and (b) to determine the childrens preference for the strategies. For this abstract, I present one case example. Ali was a 5 year old girl with a brain injury who engaged in problem behavior during academic tasks. She was evaluated within a 90-min outpatient clinic. Interobserver agreement was assessed for 89% of sessions and averaged 99%. During Phase 1, an antecedent analysis was conducted within a multielement design to evaluate the effects of task completion during 1-step versus 3-step vocal instructions. During Phase 2, an antecedent analysis of 2 self-management strategies was conducted within a multielement design to determine the effects on task completion. During Phase 3, a concurrent operants assessment was conducted to determine Alis preference for the self-management strategies. In Figure 1 (left panel), results showed that task completion decreased with 3-step instructions. In the middle panel, both self-management strategies showed improvement on the same task. In the right panel, self-management strategies were chosen more often than no strategy, and task completion maintained at high levels during 3 of 5 trials.

Several empirical studies have suggested that self-monitoring can be an effective strategy to increase appropriate behavior in children and youth with autism (e.g., Coyle & Cole 2004; Ganz & Sigafoos 2005) when implemented by highly trained research personnel. From a social validity perspective, an important applied issue is whether such programs can be successfully designed and implemented by classroom teachers and under more typical classroom conditions (Horner, Carr, Halle, McGee, Odom, & Wolery, 2005). We designed the present study to investigate the effects of a program to support teachers in the use of self-monitoring interventions for improving student classroom behavior. Participants were 4 classroom teachers and 4 students with autism aged 5 years from a school for children with communication disorders. Data were collected within a multiple-probe design across teachers with pre and post generalization probes. A reversal phase was also conducted for the first two participants. The results suggested the program was effective in supporting teachers in the design and implementation of self-monitoring interventions and that the self-monitoring intervention was associated with improvements in the students classroom behavior. The teachers generalized the use of self-monitoring interventions, and social validity measures indicated that teachers valued the program.

Students with autism spectrum disorders typically receive social skills instruction in adult-facilitated formats, limiting the number of practice opportunities available to students. This presentation will discuss the results of an investigation involving the addition of self-management strategies (i.e., self-evaluation, self-recording) to social skills training typically used in public school settings for elementary students with autism spectrum disorders. This study sought to provide a comprehensive intervention model addressing concerns related to the generalization of social skills, a chronic concern in the field of social skills, by asking participants to utilize the self-management package in generalized settings (i.e., not the training setting). Two elementary-aged students diagnosed with ASD participated in the study. Results from this study indicate an increase in social behaviors when the self-monitoring strategy is in place. Information from this study can be used to direct future research in the area of social skills interventions for individuals with ASD and Aspergers, including strategies for increasing the effectiveness of social skills training and generalization of social skills.