Fostering Independent Performance Skills in Young Children with Autism
Diane M. Sainato, Ph.D., The Ohio State University
Introduction
The development of independent performance is the cornerstone of all education. Young children with autism may be especially dependent on adult direction and prompting. While language, social, and adaptive behavior interventions have demonstrated positive outcomes, this may not be enough to ensure that children with autism be fully included in age appropriate settings without specialized support. When children with autism are able to perform more skills independently, including working or playing in groups, making transitions within and across activity settings, and participating in inclusive educational settings with their peers, they may be more likely to encounter natural communities of reinforcement. Three promising strategies for teaching young children with autism independent performance skills are described.
Correspondence Training and Photographic Activity Schedules
Independent performance is valued in educational settings and in society at large. In the classroom, children who are more independent and may be perceived to be more competent have increased opportunities for peer interaction and instruction. One effective strategy for promoting independent performance in children with autism is correspondence training. The correspondence literature suggests a connection exists between what an individual says she will do and what she actually does (Odom & Watts, 1991). The objective for the child becomes the match of saying and doing, with reinforcement given for accurate matches. This strategy has been used to increase behaviors in young children such as toy play, social interaction, and clean up time in early childhood environments (Odom & Watts, 1991; Osnes, Guevremont, & Stokes, 1986). In order to enhance the effectiveness of a correspondence training strategy for young children with autism, we paired this strategy with a photographic activity schedule. Photographic activity schedules are often used for children with autism with much success (Bryan and Gast, 2000). Photo activity schedules may provide additional visual cues to students who struggle with verbal instructions; additionally, they are both inexpensive and transportable, allowing for their use across settings and with multiple people.
We investigated a combined strategy using correspondence training and photographic activity schedules to improve the independent toy play of preschoolers with autism during playtime in an inclusive setting (Morrison & Sainato, BenChaaban, and Endo, 2005). Children were asked to indicate a sequence of play choices with the photographic activity schedule. Then they were asked to go and play. At the end of the playtime, children were asked to report their activity choices. A multiple baseline across subjects was employed to investigate the effectiveness of correspondence training and activity schedules on the on-task and play correspondence behavior of four preschoolers with autism. Results of the study indicated that participants’ on-task and play correspondence behavior increased, while experimenter prompts gradually decreased. The success of implementing this strategy in an inclusive preschool classroom for young children with autism suggests that correspondence training paired with photographic activity schedules could serve as a non-intrusive means of facilitating the independence of preschoolers with autism during playtime.
Using High Probability Request Sequences
One of the distinguishing characteristics of young children with autism is their lack of social interaction skills. Many strategies have been documented to increase these social behaviors including the use of peer-mediated interventions (Tsao & Odom, 2006). However, it is noted these strategies focus on training peers to initiate to children with autism, often yielding prompt-dependent behavior and limitations in generalization and maintenance (Krantz, 2000). Among the variety of effective instructional strategies, the high-probability request sequence has also been demonstrated as an antecedent and non-aversive procedure that is well incorporated into classroom routines. The high-probability request intervention includes the delivery of simple requests delivered immediately prior to a difficult request (or low probability behavior) that the child does not perform fluently (Davis & Brady, 1993). High-probability requests can provide increased opportunities for reinforcement as a result of the rate of increased responding. These combined response and reinforcement rates create a behavioral momentum that increases the possibility of children’s responses to low-probability requests (i.e. social initiations to peers). Few studies on the use of the high probability request sequence have addressed the social behaviors of young children with autism with peers in their natural environment.
In Jung, Sainato, & Davis, (2008) we examined the effects of high-probability request sequences with embedded peer modeling on the compliant responding to social requests in young children with autism. This study also measured the increase in the social interactions of these children toward their typically developing peers in the intervention and generalization settings. Using the children’s favorite play materials during a center time in an inclusive classroom, the high-probability request sequence intervention was first delivered to the peers as a model and then delivered to the target children. Dependent variables were the percent correct responses to the low-probability requests and number of intervals of social initiations and responses toward other children. The effects of the intervention on these variables were monitored using a single subject multiple baseline design across subjects and measures of procedural integrity, accuracy, and social validity were collected.
The results of this study indicated that all three children’s compliant responding to low-probability requests and social initiations and responses increased during the intervention condition. Furthermore, the target children’s social initiations and responses generalized with their peers and in generality settings. This study suggests that typical peers have the potential to be effective intervention agents for observational learning and facilitating positive social relationships for children with autism in inclusive settings.
Script Training Using Storybooks and Puppets
Early social skill interventions for young children with autism employed such strategies as adult-directed teaching and prompting of child behaviors by typical peers. While these interventions often resulted in positive changes in social behavior, children with autism often did not use newly acquired skills in a spontaneous manner or generalize their use to situations where behavior is not cued by physical or verbal prompts (Brown, Odom, & Conroy, 2001). It is understood that for any intervention to be successful it must be sustainable within the typical classroom environment.
Another tactic that shows promise for young children with autism in the development of independent social behavior is that of socio-dramatic script training. Research has shown that preschool children organize experiential information in a script-like fashion that tends to define the order of events within familiar themes and situations (Goldstein & Cisar, 1992). Accordingly, scripts have the potential to facilitate appropriate social interaction by establishing common behavioral repertoires allowing children to gain experience with conventional social exchanges according to a predetermined script (Goldstein & Cisar, 1992). As such, a more effective strategy may be one that combines proven strategies such as script training and instruction in socio-dramatic play, harnesses the strengths of children with autism, notably their preference for non-transient visual stimuli, and fits within typical classroom
settings.
With the implementation of socio-dramatic script training, improvements in social and communicative interactions have been shown when children were prompted to remain in their respective roles (Goldstein, Wickstrom, Hoyson, Jamison, & Odom, 1988). Additionally, increases in (Goldstein & Cisar, 1992) and maintenance of total social behavior (Neely, Neeley, Justen, & Tipton-Sumner, 2001) have been documented. In our study, we analyzed the effectiveness of script training to teach socio-dramatic play skills on the frequency and quality of social interaction behaviors of preschool children with autism with their typically developing peers (Salmon & Sainato, 2006). The study combined socio-dramatic script training with storybooks and puppets and strategies of generality to guide an efficient approach for increasing appropriate social interactions in the natural environment. Scripts were embedded in storybooks and triads of children learned to enact each script using puppets. The children’s social initiations and responses were also monitored on a regular basis during the generality sessions that occurred during the classroom’s scheduled play time.
Using a multiple baseline design across scripts, the specific dependent variables measured were theme related verbal or nonverbal initiations and responses, initiations and responses that were an elaboration of the scripts or unrelated to the scripts, non-social behavior, and targeted facilitative responses involving puppet manipulation. Additionally, measures of procedural integrity, accuracy, and social validity were collected.
The results of this study indicated that preschool children with autism were successful in learning the socio-dramatic scripts and acting them out with their peers and could do this with low rates of adult prompting. All of the children also demonstrated increased social interactions with trained and untrained peers during generality sessions. The intervention package used was found to be acceptable and sustainable in the inclusive environment with available resources.
In summary, intervention specialists should strive to use interventions for young children with autism that are not only effective and efficient, but promote independent responding in social and adaptive behavior across settings, persons, and circumstances. The use of correspondence training procedures, high probability requests, and socio-dramatic script training with storybooks and puppets has been demonstrated to increase language, social, and interaction skills in young children with autism, but the ability to perform these skills with less adult direction and intervention is also important.
References
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