Association for Behavior Analysis International

This symposium will be comprised of three papers, each of which investigated one of three behaviors in children with ASD. The first, entitled “The Effects of the Social-Listener Protocol on the Empathetic Behavior of Children with ASD” examined whether children with ASD demonstrated empathy, followed by an intervention designed to establish peer reinforcers and test whether participants would them demonstrate empathy. The second paper examined the reinforcing effects of social attention versus tokens for a performance task for preschool children with ASD and found that results were related to children’s level of verbal development. The third paper investigated mothers’ delivery of instructional antecedents and consequences and their children’s subsequent compliance during a cleanup task. The study further compared children’s compliance with mothers’ reports of self-efficacy.

Target audience includes students, practitioners, and researchers.

Empathy has not been widely studied by behavior analysts, most likely due to the variation in the literature in regard to definition and measurement. In 3 experiments we tested whether children with an educational classification of ASD would demonstrate empathy in an unfair play scenario and, if empathetic behavior was absent, whether the Social Listener Reinforcement (SLR) Protocol intervention would result in the emergence of empathy. The results from Experiment I, consisting of 11 typically developing students and students with ASD, showed that, overall, participants with ASD demonstrated fewer observing behaviors and answered fewer empathy-related questions correctly when compared to their typically developing peers. In Experiments II and III we employed a multiple probe design to test the effects of the SLR intervention on the demonstration of empathetic behaviors. Following Experiment III, the results showed an increase in vocal verbal operants and sharing behavior for 4 of the 6 Participants.

We conducted a descriptive analysis on the effectiveness of how mothers communicate with their children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) during a compliance task, and whether their observed effectiveness related to their self-reported, self-efficacy score. Participants consisted of 37 mother-child dyads in which the children were preschool-aged and were categorized according to their level of verbal behavior development (e.g., prefoundational versus independent listener). Data were collected on the form (vocal, non-vocal, or mixed) and frequency of mother’s antecedents and consequences, whether consequences were contingent, and the children’s responses to antecedents. Analyses indicated that there was no statistically significant relationship between mothers’ communication form or use of contingent consequences as related to child’s verbal behavior development. Additionally, mother’s reported self-efficacy was not correlated with her child’s correct or incorrect responding. This study indicates the need for parent training regarding a child’s level of verbal behavior development and the use of contingent teaching practices.