Teaching children with autism to respond cooperatively in the presence of law enforcement officers

Document Type

Thesis

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Degree

M.S. Applied Behavior Analysis

Date Completed

2022

First Committee Member

Dickson, Chata

Second Committee Member

Pinkston, Jonathan

Third Committee Member

Ahearn, William

Abstract

"Individuals with autism have been shown to be at a higher risk than those without disabilities for law enforcement officer (LEO) contact. The purpose of the current study was to develop and evaluate the effects of a treatment package including behavioral skills training, multiple exemplar video training (MEVT), and matrix training techniques to teach 3 adolescents with autism to respond cooperatively in the presence of LEOs. The study focused primarily on teaching a repertoire of responding to LEOs that would transfer to untrained contexts in order to maximize the likelihood of positive LEO interactions across a range of settings. A concurrent multiple-probe across participants design was used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed treatment package. All participants reached mastery criteria for acquiring the target law enforcement officer interaction skill and performance on generalization probes improved for all participants. This study extends previous literature that used simulated training to establish desired responding in the presence of LEOs by evaluating performance in situ, and by evaluating stimulus generalization across contexts."

This document is available upon request to Western New England University faculty, students, and staff. Please contact D'Amour Library at for access.

Share

COinS