Increasing leisure item engagement in individuals with restricted interests

Document Type

Thesis

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Degree

M.S. Applied Behavior Analysis

Date Completed

2019

First Committee Member

Roscoe, Eileen

Second Committee Member

Henley, Amy

Third Committee Member

Ahearn, Bill

Abstract

"Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often display restricted interests. The current study assessed levels of engagement across multiple leisure items in three individuals with ASD, who repetitively engaged with an iPad to the exclusion of other activities. Response restriction preference assessments were conducted to assess whether simply restricting the iPad may facilitate engagement across multiple items. If it did not, then the experimenter conducted leisure item engagement training in the context of a modified single-item duration-based preference assessment. A multiple baseline design across leisure items was used to evaluate the effects of prompting and differential reinforcement on simple and complex engagement. Prompting was effective in increasing simple engagement for all participants and complex engagement for one participant. Prompting with differential reinforcement increased complex engagement for two participants. Response restriction preference assessments were conducted throughout training to serve as a baseline for examining the effects of training on restricted interest patterns."

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