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Impairment in social skills is a primary feature of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs). Research indicates that social skills are intimately tied to social development and negative social consequences can persist if specific social behaviors are not acquired. The present study evaluated the effects of behavioral skills training (BST) on teaching four parents of children with ASDs to be social skills trainers. A nonconcurrent multiple baseline design across parent-child dyads was employed and direct observation was used to assess parent and child behaviors Results demonstrated substantial improvement in social skills teaching for all participants for trained and untrained skills. Ancillary measures of child performance indicated improvement in skills as well. High levels of correct teaching responses were maintained at a 1 month follow-up. This study extends current literature on BST while also providing a helpful, low-effort strategy to modify how parents can work with their children to improve their social skills.

Pain is a largely subjective experience, and one which is difficult to convey to others, and relies significantly on language to be communicated. The language used to describe pain is therefore an important aspect of understanding and assessing another's pain. A growing body of research has reported differences in the pain experienced by men and women. However, few studies have examined gender differences, where gender is understood in both the biological and the social sense, in the language used when reporting pain. The purpose of this descriptive and analytical study was to explore gender differences in the language used by articulate men and women when describing a recollected painful event. Two-hundred and one students from an Australian university (35.32% males and 64.68% females) provided written descriptions of a past pain event. These descriptions were analysed using content analysis. Gender differences were identified in the words and patterns of language used, the focus of pain descriptions, and the reported emotional response to pain. Women were found to use more words (t=4.87, p<0.001), more McGill Pain Questionnaire descriptors (chi(2)=3.07, p<0.05), more graphic language than men, and typically focused on the sensory aspects of their pain event. Men used fewer words, less descriptive language, and focused on events and emotions. Common themes were the functional limitations caused by pain, difficulty in describing pain, and the dual nature of pain. Clinical implications include the value of gathering free pain descriptions as part of assessment, and the use of written pain descriptions.

Social deficits are a hallmark feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Consequently, socially mediated consequences (i.e., praise) may not function as reinforcers for individuals with ASD. Given the frequency in which praise is used as a programmed consequence in empirical research and in clinical practice, it is necessary to explore procedures that could condition praise to function as reinforcers. Operant discrimination training has emerged as a potential procedure to condition stimuli to acquire reinforcing properties. This study aimed to utilize the operant discrimination training procedure to condition a praise statement to function as a reinforcer. Four children diagnosed with ASD participated in the study. A nonconcurrent multiple baseline design across participants was used to evaluate this emerging pairing procedure. Findings suggest that immediate effects were observed across all participants, but responding did not maintain, suggesting that reinforcing value of the praise statement diminished.

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