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The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effects of cooperative physical activities on social interactions of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in China. Cooperative physical activities include procedures such as peer selection, peer practice, group task completion, and an interdependent group contingency. The intervention took place during inclusive physical education (PE) classes. Generalization of interactions with peers was evaluated during free play. Three preschool boys (ages 4-5 yrs) with ASD participated in the study, which used a multiple baseline design across the participants. Results indicated that the procedure effectively increased the frequency of appropriate peer interactions for all three children in the PE and free play settings. Although the frequency of inappropriate interactions increased after the intervention in both settings, the proportion of inappropriate interactions relative to appropriate interactions decreased for two children in the PE setting and for all three children in the free play setting.

Echolalia can negatively impact multiple skill areas in children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), including skills related to academic and social performance. The purpose of this study was to employ a multiple probe across participants design to evaluate the effects of tact training on delayed echolalia in three children in China diagnosed with ASD. The results of this study indicated that tact training was effective in decreasing echolalia and increasing appropriate tacts for all three children. The effects were maintained 7 weeks following the completion of training.

Bidirectional naming is an important ability which enables children to acquire listener and speaker behaviors through exposure to relevant word-object associations. Many children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or developmental delays do not demonstrate this ability and require systematic instruction. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of computer-assisted multiple exemplar instruction to facilitate bidirectional naming. Three 5-year-old Chinese boys with ASD participated in a multiple probe across three participants design. The results indicated that all three children's naming performance increased from pretest to posttest, supporting the potential practicality of the instructional system for use in applied settings.

This study evaluated the effects of using preferred activities with peer support on the social interactions of preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their typically developing peers. Two preschool-age children with ASD and six peers in an inclusive classroom participated in this study. A multiple-probe single case experimental design across three peers was employed. Results indicated that the participants' social initiations and responses, as well as the percentage of time engaged in social play, increased following the preferred activity. Gains were also demonstrated across social interactions and time engaged in the preferred activity plus peer support condition. Increases in social interaction behaviors in typically developing peers were also observed, and positive intervention gains were maintained during 5-week follow-up sessions. Implications for research and practice for improving interaction between children with and without ASD in inclusive preschool settings are discussed.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often lack symbolic play skills. Attribution of pretend properties (APP) is a type of symbolic play in which a child tacts pretend properties of an object (e.g., smelling a toy flower and saying, "It smells like a rose!"). Three Chinese boys (5-6 years of age) with ASD served as participants. A multiple-probe design across 5 objects was used to determine the effects of an intervention that involved having the child experience and tact sensory properties of real objects (e.g., rose). Corresponding test objects, including mock (e.g., a toy flower) and arbitrary objects (e.g., a stick), were used to evaluate whether tact responses for sensory properties were transferred. Results indicated that all 3 children emitted tacts of stimulus properties for test objects and maintained the skill for 7 to 10 weeks following the intervention. Two participants also tacted novel (nontarget) properties for test objects.

This paper compared the effectiveness and efficiency of using computer-assisted instruction (CAI) and teacher-implemented instruction (TII) to teach visual matching skills to students with autism spectrum disorder and/or other developmental disabilities. Four school-aged students participated in this study with an alternating treatment design. The CAI incorporated discrete trial instruction with the gesture-tracking application, while the TII involved traditional one-to-one instruction using flashcards. The results indicated that all students acquired the target matching skills with generalization to similar untaught skills and maintained acquired skills at a high level for up to 5 weeks under both CAI and TII. Both CAI and TII were effective. However, CAI was more efficient than TII in regards to the prompts provided and the duration of instructional sessions. CAI also resulted in more student engagement in independent learning.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of video modeling and visual task analysis on the acquisition, maintenance, and engagement of washing cars for three Chinese adolescents with intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder. Video-based training was conducted in the conference room of a university-affiliated autism research center in China, and the hands-on training using visual task analysis took place in a local car wash. Three male adolescents (16-19 years old) participated in this study. A multiple probe across four tasks design was used. Results indicated that the training was effective in increasing independent and accurate responses of car wash tasks for all participants, and two of the three participants had a relatively high level of task engagement after the training. The acquired skills and improved task engagement were maintained for up to 6 months without practice. Implications in vocational skills training for Chinese adolescents in the community are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to compare the efficiency of two prompt strategies (echoic versus echoic + picture) on establishing the intraverbal behavior (i.e., question answering) for three 4-year-old children with ASD in China. All three children had mand, tact, and echoic behavior in their repertoire, but had a limited intraverbal repertoire. An adapted alternating treatments design combined with a multiple probe across two behaviors (two question sets) was used. Results indicated that both strategies were effective to teach and maintain question answering for all three children. However, the echoic prompt strategy required fewer trials to criterion than the echoic plus picture strategy, suggesting the efficiency of echoic prompts to establish intraverbal repertoire for these children.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of intraverbal prompts on response diversity and novelty in intraverbals posed to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The intraverbal prompts involving function, feature, and class (FFC) of an item were used in the training of three questions requiring multiple responses. Two Chinese boys with ASD (aged 5-6 years) served as participants. A multiple-probe across three behaviors design was employed. The results indicated that the intraverbal prompts effectively increased the number of divergent responses to all three questions. Novel responses emerged at a low level while generalization to similar questions was not observed following the training.

Symbolic play skills are important in language acquisition and child development. Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have difficulties demonstrating such play behaviors. Imaginary objects symbolic play refers to play behavior in which children perform play actions without actual objects. Three boys with ASD (3-7 years) participated in this study. A multiple-probe across three participants and two settings design was employed to evaluate the effects of intraverbal training on the acquisition and generalization of imaginary objects symbolic play. Results indicated that all children acquired and maintained target imaginary objects play activities. Generalization to untaught activities occurred in one child. All three children' symbolic play emerged or increased in free play after the instruction.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of an individual work system on student task engagement, prompts needed for task completion, and the accuracy in task completion for three students with ASD in a special education classroom in China. Three students with ASD (two girls and one boy, ages 8-9) participated in this study. A multiple-probe across participants design was used. The students independently practiced the tasks acquired during pre-experimental training in a 10 to 15-min independent work session each day. The work system was implemented for 18 days during school days until all three students maintained stable performance at a high level in their task engagement. Results indicated that task engagement was improved, teacher prompts required for task completion were reduced, and accuracy in task completion was increased for all three students, as a result of the introduction of the individual work system. Such improvements were maintained at least 1 week following the completion of the intervention.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a peer-mediated LEGO® play intervention on improving social skills for children with ASD in an inclusive preschool in China. Three boys with ASD and 13 typically developing children participated in this study. A multiple-probe across participants design was used. The intervention consisted of LEGO® construction activities incorporated with peer-mediated strategies for one child with ASD and two typically developing peers. The intervention sessions were conducted two sessions per week with a total of 28-31 sessions for each participant. Results indicated that all three children with ASD increased their social initiations and responses following the completion of the intervention. Social validity was also obtained.

The purpose of this study was to pilot test the effects of a culturally adapted early intervention influenced by the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) on reduction of autism symptoms and severity categorization for young children with autism spectrum disorders in China. Participants were randomly assigned to either the control or intervention groups. The children's age ranged from 24 to 60 months in this study. Children in the control group (n = 20) received eclectic intervention services for a minimum of 2 hr per day, 10 hr per week, while children in the intervention group (n = 16) received the culturally adapted intervention 1 hr per day, 5 hr per week, plus 5 hr per week of the same services as the control group for a total of 8 weeks. After 8 weeks, children in the intervention group demonstrated a significant decrease in autism symptoms and improved severity categorization, compared with children in the control group. Future studies and implications of the culturally adapted early intervention in China are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether using self-monitoring with guided goal setting was effective in increasing academic engagement for a student with autism who frequently displayed disruptive behaviors in an inclusive classroom in China. A 9-year-old male student with autism participated in this study. A changing criterion single-subject design was used. Training on self-monitoring took place outside of the classroom prior to the implementation of self-monitoring and guided goal setting in the language art class in an inclusive classroom. The goal was gradually increased and determined by the student's best performance on the previous phase. Results showed an increase in the student's academic engagement during intervention. The student also maintained a high level of academic engagement during 1-week follow-up sessions without self-monitoring.

This study investigated the effects of tact prompts on the acquisition and retention of divergent intraverbal responding to categorical questions involving conditional discriminations. A 6-year-old boy with autism participated in the study. A multiple probe design across behaviors was used. A tact-prompt procedure was implemented. The results suggested that the tact-prompt procedure was effective to establish and increase the number of divergent intraverbal responses to questions across two categories. The child spontaneously emitted novel responses during training and generalization probe sessions, indicating occurrences of response generalization after divergent intraverbal training. Maintenance probes showed that divergent intraverbal responses were maintained at high levels for all target categorical questions 3 weeks after the completion of training.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a behavioral art program in improving social skills for two children with autism in group settings. A multiple probe design across behaviors was used. The results indicated that for both children, the program increased the percentages of spontaneous verbal communications, presentation of artwork, and eye contact. One of the children showed a concurrent decrease in off-seat behavior. Both children maintained high levels of performance on the target social skills three weeks after the treatment. Social skills were generalized to different settings with another instructor and an unfamiliar audience. The increased scores on both children's adaptive behaviors indicated that both the teachers and the parents perceived that the art program was effective in improving the children's social skills.

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effects of tact and match-to-sample instructions on the increase and maintenance of intraverbal responses to subcategorical questions (i.e., naming multiple items in a subcategory of a category). Three Chinese children on the autism spectrum (2 boys, 1 girl, aged 6–8 years old) participated in this study. Results indicated that intraverbal responses to subcategorical questions emerged or increased for most subcategories for all three participants following the completion of instruction without direct training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of an instructional procedure on the acquisition and generalization of metaphorical understanding for children with autism spectrum disorder. Three students (two boys, one girl, 5-8 years old) participated but only two completed the study. A multiple-probe design across two behaviors and three participants was used. The metaphors were categorized by topography: metaphors involving physical features and metaphors involving abstract properties. The instruction consisted of intraverbal training using echoic prompts, picture prompts, and textual prompts. The results indicated that the instruction was effective in establishing metaphorical understanding of target metaphors. Generalized understanding to untaught metaphors occurred for the two students who completed the study, and all metaphors were maintained at a relatively high level for two months following the instruction. Keywords Metaphors * Metaphorical understanding * Relational frame theory * Intraverbal * Autism spectrum disorder, Metaphorical language use is pervasive in social conversations and written expressions in our daily lives, and is common in many cultures (Semino & Demjen, 2016). In elementary schools, teachers frequently [...]

The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of an instructional sequence involving simple tact, category tact, and match-to-sample instructions on the emergence of metaphorical extensions about emotions for children with autism spectrum disorder. Three Chinese children (1 girl, 2 boys, 7–8 years old) with autism spectrum disorder participated. Results indicate that the participants' intraverbal responses for metaphorical extensions about emotions emerged or increased without direct training after completion of the instructional sequence to which verbal instruction had been added. All three children maintained the metaphorical extensions about emotions for 4 weeks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of an individual work system on student task engagement, prompts needed for task completion, and the accuracy in task completion for three students with ASD in a special education classroom in China. Three students with ASD (two girls and one boy, ages 8-9) participated in this study. A multiple-probe across participants design was used. The students independently practiced the tasks acquired during pre-experimental training in a 10 to 15-min independent work session each day. The work system was implemented for 18 days during school days until all three students maintained stable performance at a high level in their task engagement. Results indicated that task engagement was improved, teacher prompts required for task completion were reduced, and accuracy in task completion was increased for all three students, as a result of the introduction of the individual work system. Such improvements were maintained at least 1 week following the completion of the intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) may not develop symbolic play skills, so such skills need to be taught specifically. We report an experiment regarding a procedure targeting "object-substitution" symbolic play skills. The "object-substitution" symbolic play behavior occurred when the child labeled a common object with the name of a substitute and used the object to perform a play action (e.g., As she put a bowl on her head, she called it a hat). A multiple probe across behaviors design was employed with five children (four boys and one girl, aged 3 to 6 years) with ASD. All children had verbal communication and demonstrated functional play and generalized imitation, but no symbolic play skills prior to the study. The instruction consisted of intraverbal training, picture prompts, and modeling of play actions. All children demonstrated object-substitution symbolic play skills after the instruction. The occurrences of response generalization were also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a parent training package on parents' accuracy of program implementations and their children's goal achievements on parent-implemented programs at home. Parents also completed a quiz with questions about three-contingencies before and after the training. Three mother-child dyads participated in this study. All three children were 4-year-old boys with developmental delays. We employed a multiple baseline across three parent-child dyads as the primary design combined with a pretest and posttest. The individual parent training sessions consisted of office meetings and in-vivo classroom coaching sessions on program implementations. Each parent was trained individually to mastery criteria on program implementations using the Teacher Performance Rate Accuracy Scale (TPRA). After completing the parent training package, all parents acquired program implementations skills, and their program implementation skills were generalized to teach new behaviors at home with a high level of fidelity. Their quiz scores on three-term contingencies also increased to a relatively high level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a self-monitoring intervention on the independent completion of dishwashing for three boys with autism (ages 6, 7, and 8) in China. The self-monitoring intervention included visual task analysis, in vivo modeling, self-recording, video self-feedback, and reinforcement. A multiple probe across subjects design was used. Prior to the study, the children had limited or no dishwashing skills, nor did they receive any training on self-monitoring. All three children acquired dishwashing and performed the task independently without supervision one week after the intervention. Their parents were very satisfied with this intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the effectiveness of intraverbal prompts to increase the number of divergent responses to categorical questions composed of compound stimuli (e.g., Name some red things) for a 6-year-old child with autism. The intraverbal prompts involved providing the function, feature, and class of the target responses. A multiple probe across behaviors design was used. Results indicated that the child's total number of divergent responses was increased and maintained during 2-week follow-up probe trials. Novel responses were observed across conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether using self-monitoring with guided goal setting was effective in increasing academic engagement for a student with autism who frequently displayed disruptive behaviors in an inclusive classroom in China. A 9-year-old male student with autism participated in this study. A changing criterion single-subject design was used. Training on self-monitoring took place outside of the classroom prior to the implementation of self-monitoring and guided goal setting in the language art class in an inclusive classroom. The goal was gradually increased and determined by the student's best performance on the previous phase. Results showed an increase in the student's academic engagement during intervention. The student also maintained a high level of academic engagement during 1-week follow-up sessions without self-monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a case study report focusing on qualitative improvements in social and emotional communications of two children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) who participated in a behavioural art programme. This study took place in a classroom located in an autism research centre affiliated with a university in the central area of Taiwan. Two 6-year-old boys with autism were referred to this programme because of their poor social skills and frequent emotional outbursts both at home and in school. The art programme, consisting of opportunities to increase social communication skills with a behaviour-analytic instructional methodology, was implemented once a week for a total of seventeen sessions. Qualitative improvements in social and emotional communications were analysed from the participant's artwork, their statements about their work, and parents' and teachers' reports regarding the children's social interactions. Results indicated that this behaviourally oriented art programme helped to facilitate both the children's expression of their own emotions as well as social interactions with each other during the art sessions. Improvement in social communication skills also became apparent at home and school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]