Association for Behavior Analysis International

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are lifelong neurodevelopmental disabilities (Allen & Rapin, 1990). The number of referrals for evaluation of children with ASD has dramatically increased since it was first recognized as a disability in China 1982. The Mental Health Institute of Beijing University reported that more children being referred for suspected ASD than any other mental health issues, and the numbers rose 210% from 1980 to 1999. Researchers estimate that over one million children in China have autism using the prevalence rate of 6 in 1,000 from the United States (Wang, 2008). A 2001 Chinese government survey reported that intensive behavioral intervention was the most requested service by parents of children with ASD (Yang, 2003). However, there is a severe shortage of professionals who can deliver early intensive behavioral interventions (EIBI) to children with ASD in China. Approximately 90% of the children with autism never received any type of intervention. The symposium will include two experimental studies that investigated the interventions designed to improve teacher's use of EIBI to improve learning outcomes of children with autism in China.

Researchers and practitioners who are interested in early behavioral interventions for children with autism and education in China.

Procedural integrity has a direct impact on Early Intensive Behavioral Interventions (EIBI) outcomes for children with autism. Research evidence suggests that providing feedback can improve procedural integrity. The purpose of the study is to investigate the effects of delivering feedback using distance learning technologies on EIBI procedural integrity for teachers in China. Three teachers from a school serving children with autism in China participated in the study. During the baseline, we recorded and measured teachers' procedural integrity while implementing discrete trial training (DTT) and incidental teaching (IT). During the intervention, the teachers received feedback regarding their procedural integrity on either DTT or IT using distance learning technologies. In the context of an alternating treatment design, we directly compared the percentage of steps implemented correctly between the two conditions. The study showed that there was a functional relation between the intervention and teacher's improved procedural integrity. The effects were replicated when the teachers received feedback on the other procedure. The results of the study suggest that delivering feedback using distance learning technologies can be an effective intervention to improve procedural integrity for practitioners.

It is critical to find effective error-correction procedures used in early behavioral intervention (EBI) for children with autism because they tend to make persistent errors. However, studies have not provided empirical support as to whether instructors should deliver reinforcers during error correction. The purpose of this study is to compare the effects of the error correction with and without reinforcement on (a) the acquisition of a match-to-sample skill and (b) intervention preference of children with autism in China. We will recruit four children with autism from China to participate in the study. When error occurs, the instructor will first prompt the student to make a correct response. The instructor will either deliver a reinforcer or not use any reinforcers following student correct response under the respective conditions. We will use a repeated acquisition design to compare which error-correction procedure will result in faster skill acquisition. We will also assess student preference of the procedures. The results will contribute to the knowledge of effective error correction used in EBI for children with autism. In addition, we will discuss the potential mechanism responsible for error correction in the context of stimulus control and punishment. We will complete data collection in January 2018.