Evaluation of methods for promoting social interactions during leisure for adolescents with autism

Document Type

Thesis

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Degree

M.S. Applied Behavior Analysis

Date Completed

2020

First Committee Member

Bancroft, Stacie

Second Committee Member

Karsina, Allen

Third Committee Member

Thompson, Rachel

Abstract

"Deficits in social skills are a definitional characteristic of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Therefore, learning to contribute to social interactions could be a crucial skill for people on the autism spectrum. Although people with ASD might demonstrate competency of social skills following training, they may still demonstrate low social interactions and limited generalization of these skills to peers. In the current study, two teenagers with ASD were taught to initiate joint participation, make relevant conversation, and provide prosocial interactions while engaging in leisure activities with peers. Participants watched a video model and were presented with the opportunity to emit the targeted social skills. Following each session, the experimenter delivered video feedback. Veiled prompting and conditioned reinforcement, in the form of tokens, were introduced if there was no increase in responding to video models and video feedback (VMVF) alone. VMVF increased 5 out of 6 target subskills for one participant. For the last target social subskill, VMVF plus veiled prompting and tokens were effective in increasing the response. For the second participant, VMVF alone was not effective at increasing social interactions. However, VMVF plus veiled prompting and tokens increased targeted social domains. Generalization to the peer social group context did not occur for either participant. The study demonstrates the efficacy of a video modeling treatment package to increase social interactions with teenagers, while highlighting the need to assess generalization of these skills in contexts with peers."

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