The current study evaluated a toilet-training treatment package described by Greer et al. (2016) with children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Most of the current research on toilet-training interventions for children with ASD are replications and modifications of Azrin and Foxx (1971) or (more recently) LeBlanc et al. (2005). However, these procedures are composed of components that are not included in studies with typically developing (TD) children. For example, Greer et al. evaluated the effectiveness of three typical components within a toilettraining package, mostly with TD participants: a 30-min sit schedule, placing participants in underwear, and differential reinforcement. The primary purpose of the current study was to replicate and extend the treatment package described by Greer et al. to children with ASD. A secondary purpose was to evaluate modifications necessary for individualized toilet training when the commonly used components were ineffective. The results of Greer et al. were replicated for 11 participants with ASD in the current study, suggesting that intensive toileting interventions (e.g., interventions requiring overcorrection, reprimands, and dense sit schedules) may only be necessary for a subset of individuals with ASD.
Performance feedback is a common organizational behavior management intervention (Gravina et al., 2018) that typically yields consistent effects when combined with other procedures (Alvero et al., 2001). A noteworthy characteristic that might affect feedback effectiveness is timing (Lechermeier & Fassnacht, 2018). Given the frequent use and practical utility of feedback, we assessed feedback preference across three feedback timing options: after step, after trial, and after session. We used a direct-choice paradigm to assess feedback timing preferences with undergraduate students completing two multistep computerized tasks. The data obtained suggest that most participants shifted their preference from relatively proximal (e.g., after step) to distal feedback (e.g., after session) as they acquired the tasks. A few participants' preferences varied despite increases in performance. We discuss implications based on the current findings and future directions for research.
Much of the research evaluating toilet training interventions for children with ASD has focused on urinations as the primary dependent variable. As a result, the effects that toilet training interventions targeting urinations may have on other related dependent variables remains unclear. We conducted a retrospective analysis of data obtained by Perez et al. ( 2020), who evaluated the effects of a treatment package on urinary continence in children with ASD. We examined the relation between the emergence of urinary continence and multiple nontargeted dependent variables: bowel movements, self-initiation correspondence, percentage of appropriate urinations that were self-initiated, self-initiation rate, and problem behavior. Results showed that improvements in urinary continence were strongly correlated with improvements in all nontargeted dependent variables. Implications for future research and clinical practice are discussed.
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