Employing a Fixed-Lean Multiple Schedule in the Treatment of Challenging Behavior for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

2017 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 610-633 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaji S. Haq ◽  
Wendy Machalicek ◽  
S. Andrew Garbacz ◽  
Christine Drew
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Schedule ◽  
Challenging Behavior ◽  
Applied Research ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Schedules Of Reinforcement ◽  
The Social ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Treatment Package ◽  
Abrupt Shifts

Despite its utility, there is limited applied research on employing fixed-lean (FL) schedules of reinforcement in treatment packages to address challenging behavior. One potential reason is that abrupt shifts to terminal schedules of reinforcement have been associated with immediate increases in challenging behavior before subsiding to clinically acceptable levels. The purpose of the present study was to (a) provide evidence demonstrating the utility of a FL multiple schedule (MS) in the treatment of challenging behavior in applied settings, (b) examine the potential effects of alternative stimuli on challenging behavior during a FL MS, and (c) assess the social validity of this treatment package with participants and caregivers. The results of this study showed low levels of challenging behavior and discriminated mands during the FL MS, but no evidence to support the inclusion of alternative stimuli. In addition, caregivers of both participants reported high levels of satisfaction with the treatment package. Implications for research and clinical practice are discussed.

scholarly journals Lexical Development in Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): How ASD May Affect Intake From the Input

2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (11) ◽  
pp. 2659-2672 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sudha Arunachalam ◽  
Rhiannon J. Luyster
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Social Communication ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Lexical Representation ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Learning Situation ◽  
Lexical Development ◽  
The Social ◽  
Processing Demands

Purpose Most children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have below-age lexical knowledge and lexical representation. Our goal is to examine ways in which difficulties with social communication and language processing that are often associated with ASD may constrain these children's abilities to learn new words and to explore whether minimizing the social communication and processing demands of the learning situation can lead to successful learning. Method In this narrative review of recent work on lexical development in ASD, we describe key findings on children's acquisition of nouns, pronouns, and verbs and outline our research program currently in progress aimed at further elucidating these issues. Conclusion Our review of studies that examine lexical development in children with ASD suggests that innovative intervention approaches that take into account both the social communication and processing demands of the learning situation may be particularly beneficial. Presentation Video https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.7324013

scholarly journals Enhancement of psychomotor skills in children with autism spectrum disorder by employing a mechatronic training kit

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramya S. Moorthy ◽  
Kritika Iyer ◽  
R. Hari Krishnan ◽  
S. Pugazhenthi
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Psychomotor Skills ◽  
The Social ◽  
Skill Deficits ◽  
Hand Coordination

AbstractPrevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in children has been increasing over the years. These children, when compared to typically growing children, face challenges in leading a day-to-day life. Other than the social interactions, communication and cognitive skills, psychomotor skill deficits are also found in them. This paper focuses on enhancement of psychomotor skills in children with ASD by employing a mechatronic training kit. Training using this kit aims at developing skills like ‘palmar grasp’, ‘wrist rotation’ and ‘eye-hand coordination’. Trials were conducted with six children with autism aged between four and nine years. Significant improvements were seen in these children both in skills and in behaviour after the training. Thus, teaching psychomotor skills to children with autism using the newly developed mechatronic door training kit is found to be working and the results are encouraging.

scholarly journals Investigating SOcial Competence and Isolation in children with Autism taking part in LEGO-based therapy clubs In School Environments (I-SOCIALISE): study protocol

BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. e030471
Author(s):  
Danielle Varley ◽  
Barry Wright ◽  
Cindy Cooper ◽  
David Marshall ◽  
Katie Biggs ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Skills ◽  
Usual Care ◽  
Peer Relationships ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Skills Training ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
School Level ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
The Social

IntroductionSocial skills training interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) typically focus on a skills deficit model rather than building on existing skills or encouraging the child to seek their own solutions. LEGO-based therapy is a child-oriented intervention to help improve social interactional skills and reduce isolation. The therapy is designed for school-age children with ASD and uses group-based play in a school setting to encourage peer relationships and social learning. Despite the reported potential benefits of LEGO-based therapy in a prior randomised controlled trial (RCT) and its adoption by many schools, the evidence to support its effectiveness on the social and emotional well-being of children with ASD is limited and includes no assessment of cost-effectiveness.Methods and analysisThis multicentre, pragmatic, cluster RCT will randomise 240 participants (aged 7–15 years) with a clinical diagnosis of ASD to receive usual care or LEGO-based therapy with usual care. Cluster randomisation will be conducted on a school level, randomising each school as opposed to each individual child within a school. All prospective participants will be screened for eligibility before assenting to the study (with parents giving informed consent on behalf of their child). All participants will be followed up at 20 and 52 weeks after randomisation to assess for social, emotional and behavioural changes. The primary outcome measure is the social skills subscale of the Social Skills Improvement System completed by a teacher or teaching assistant associated with participating children at the 20-week follow-up time point.Ethics and disseminationEthics approval has been obtained via the University of York Research Ethics Committee. The results of the trial will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal and will be disseminated to participating families, education practitioners and the third sector including voluntary and community organisations.Trial registration numberISRCTN64852382; Pre-results.

scholarly journals Effects of pivotal response treatment on reciprocal vocal contingency in a randomized controlled trial of children with autism spectrum disorder

Autism ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 1566-1571
Author(s):  
Jena McDaniel ◽  
Paul Yoder ◽  
Madison Crandall ◽  
Maria Estefania Millan ◽  
Christina Mich Ardel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Parent Report ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Pivotal Response Treatment ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Child Interaction ◽  
Parent Child Interaction ◽  
Treatment Package

A pivotal response treatment package consisting of clinician-delivered and parent-implemented strategies was recently found to be effective in improving language and social communication deficits in children with autism spectrum disorder. Reciprocal vocal contingency, an automated measure of vocal reciprocity, may provide stronger and complementary evidence of the effects of the pivotal response treatment package. Reciprocal vocal contingency is derived through an automated process from daylong audio samples from the child’s natural environment. Therefore, reciprocal vocal contingency is at lower risk for detection bias than parent report and brief parent–child interaction measures. Although differences were non-significant at baseline and after 12 weeks of intervention for the 48 children with autism spectrum disorder who were randomly assigned to the pivotal response treatment package or a delayed treatment control group, the pivotal response treatment package group had higher ranked reciprocal vocal contingency scores than the control group after 24 weeks ( U = 125, p = .04). These findings are consistent with results from parent report and parent–child interaction measures obtained during the trial. The participants in the pivotal response treatment package exhibited greater vocal responsiveness to adult vocal responses to their vocalizations than the control group. Findings support the effectiveness of the pivotal response treatment package on vocal reciprocity of children with autism spectrum disorder, which may be a pivotal skill for language development. Lay abstract A recent randomized controlled trial found that children with autism spectrum disorder who received a pivotal response treatment package showed improved language and social communication skills following the intervention. The pivotal response treatment package includes clinician-delivered and parent-implemented strategies. Reciprocal vocal contingency is an automated measure of vocal reciprocity derived from daylong audio samples from the child’s natural environment. It may provide stronger and complementary evidence of the effects of the pivotal response treatment package because it is at lower risk for detection bias than parent report and brief parent–child interaction measures. The current study compared reciprocal vocal contingency for 24 children with autism spectrum disorder in the pivotal response treatment package group and 24 children with autism spectrum disorder in the control group. The pivotal response treatment package group received 24 weeks of the pivotal response treatment package intervention. The control group received their usual intervention services during that time. The groups did not differ in reciprocal vocal contingency when the intervention started or after 12 weeks of intervention. However, after 24 weeks the pivotal response treatment package group had higher ranked reciprocal vocal contingency scores than the control group. These findings are consistent with results from parent report and parent–child interaction measures obtained during the trial. The participants in the pivotal response treatment package exhibited greater vocal responsiveness to adult vocal responses to their vocalizations than the control group. Findings support the effectiveness of the pivotal response treatment package on vocal reciprocity of children with autism spectrum disorder, which may be a pivotal skill for language development.

scholarly journals Computer- and Robot-Assisted Therapies to Aid Social and Intellectual Functioning of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Medicina ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 55 (8) ◽  
pp. 440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan DiPietro ◽  
Arpad Kelemen ◽  
Yulan Liang ◽  
Cecilia Sik-Lanyi
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Social Skills ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Robot Assisted ◽  
The Past ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
The Social

Background and objectives: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience challenges with social interactions, a core feature of the disorder. Social skills therapy has been shown to be helpful. Over the past several years, computer-assisted and robot-assisted therapies have been infiltrating the social skills teaching environment. Rapid progress in the field of technology, especially in the robotics area, offers tremendous possibilities for innovation and treatment or even education for individuals with ASD. This paper’s purpose is to drive awareness of these innovative interventions in order to support the social lives of children with ASD. The aims of the paper are identifying (1) the types of Information Technology platforms that are being evaluated in computer and robot-assisted therapies for children with ASD; (2) the various disciplines or professions studying and utilizing these computer and robot-assisted social skill therapies; (3) the outcomes being evaluated in each trial; and (4) if results demonstrate benefits to children with autism. Materials and Methods: PubMed, CINAHL, Science Direct, and Web of Science databases were searched for clinical trials published over the past five years. Search terms incorporated the subject intersection of autism, and computer or robot-assisted therapy. Results were mined for pediatric populations only and study designs establishing controlled comparisons. Results: Eighteen unique international studies were identified that utilize robot interventions (11 studies) and serious computer game interventions (seven studies). Most demonstrated promising results in improving outcomes for children with ASD. Study implications reveal a rapidly evolving assistive technology for ASD social skills therapy. Conclusions: These interventions show considerable promise, but more effectiveness and cost effectiveness research of high quality should be carried out with larger numbers of children. Also, further studies are necessary to evaluate these technologies’ effectiveness amongst adults with ASD and within unique subsets of the higher functioning autism population.

scholarly journals Impaired voice processing in reward and salience circuits predicts social communication in children with autism

eLife ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Arthur Abrams ◽  
Aarthi Padmanabhan ◽  
Tianwen Chen ◽  
Paola Odriozola ◽  
Amanda E Baker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Communication ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
Editorial Note ◽  
Social Emotional ◽  
Children With Asd ◽  
The Social ◽  
Mother’S Voice ◽  
Voice Processing

Engaging with vocal sounds is critical for children’s social-emotional learning, and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often ‘tune out’ voices in their environment. Little is known regarding the neurobiological basis of voice processing and its link to social impairments in ASD. Here, we perform the first comprehensive brain network analysis of voice processing in children with ASD. We examined neural responses elicited by unfamiliar voices and mother’s voice, a biologically salient voice for social learning, and identified a striking relationship between social communication abilities in children with ASD and activation in key structures of reward and salience processing regions. Functional connectivity between voice-selective and reward regions during voice processing predicted social communication in children with ASD and distinguished them from typically developing children. Results support the Social Motivation Theory of ASD by showing reward system deficits associated with the processing of a critical social stimulus, mother’s voice, in children with ASD.Editorial note: This article has been through an editorial process in which the authors decide how to respond to the issues raised during peer review. The Reviewing Editor's assessment is that minor issues remain unresolved (<xref ref-type="decision-letter" rid="SA1">see decision letter</xref>).

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