Association for Behavior Analysis International

Children with autism tend to exhibit significantly fewer social interaction behaviors compared to their neurotypical peers. Much of the research addressing this challenge focuses on early intervention strategies and services like Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). The Good Behavior Game (GBG), an interdependent group contingency, has been widely used to improve academic, social, and appropriate behaviors across various settings. This study examined the effects of the GBG on the social interactions of elementary students in special education, without directly targeting peer interactions through the game's rules. Unlike previous studies that demonstrated positive outcomes, the findings of this study showed null results, indicating that the GBG did not significantly influence the social interactions of three elementary students during unstructured activities like calendar time or free play. These findings highlight the need for further investigation into the conditions under which the GBG may or may not impact social behaviors in similar educational contexts.

Behavioral skills training (BST) and video models have been shown to be efficacious intervention components in teaching play skills to autistic children (Pisman & Luczynski, 2020; Sancho et al., 2010). Interactive computer training (ICT) may enhance these intervention components through active responding opportunities (Zhang et al., 2006) and may yield efficiency in teaching complex play skills. A growing body of research has focused on teaching individuals to play cooperatively or engage in good sportsmanship behaviors (e.g., consoling losses or congratulating wins), however these skills may not match a wide range of play preferences (e.g., playing competitively or engaging in banter) (Trespalacios et al., 2011). In the present study we used a concurrent chains preference assessment to identify preference for cooperative or competitive play styles. The participant showed a preference for competitive play (e.g., engaging in banter, playing to win). We evaluated and found ICT and BST to be efficacious in teaching participants to respond to indices of frustration from their play partner, determine the appropriate times to make positive affirming statements, how to appropriately win and lose games, and skills for engaging in appropriate banter. The generalization of skills were assessed and maintained across novel play partners.

Social communication deficits in young adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) persist beyond adolescence and pose significant challenges in various life domains. While behavioral skills training (BST) and video modeling (VM) have been shown to have positive effects in children and youth with ASD, there is limited research on evidence-based practices for young adults with ASD. In this study, we investigated the effectiveness of a combined BST and VM intervention for promoting social communication skills in three young adults with ASD. Additionally, we examined the extent of generalization of the acquired skills to novel contexts. The results demonstrated significant improvements in verbal initiation skills for two participants, one of whom also generalized the skills to novel conversation topics. The third participant demonstrated prerequisite verbal initiation during the pre-training test. For reciprocal conversation skill, all three participants demonstrated mastery relatively quickly during training. Two out of three participants maintained the response during the post-training test and one of those participants generalized the response to novel conversation topics. These findings emphasized the immediate positive impact of the combined intervention on social communication outcomes for young adults with ASD and underscored the presence of individual differences in the intervention outcomes.