Increasingly, parents, teachers, and students with disabilities are advocating for interventions that go beyond skill training to provide support for participation in integrated environments and support for friendships. The present research demonstrated a social network intervention for youths with moderate and severe disabilities. Two groups of nondisabled peers were recruited to participate in weekly discussions with an adult integration facilitator to increase opportunities for social interaction for 2 students (1 with autism and 1 who was moderately mentally retarded). The groups met to discuss social interactions that had occurred with the students with disabilities and to talk about strategies to promote greater inclusion of the students into ongoing social interaction. The nondisabled students participated in the design and implementation of social skills interventions during transition times and lunch. The nondisabled students used self-monitoring data sheets to record the quantity and quality of interactions. The frequency of interaction, number of opportunities for interaction, and appropriateness of social interactions were analyzed with a multiple baseline design. Results indicated that the social network intervention was successful in increasing the quantity and quality of interactions and that the network strategy promoted the development of friendships. The results are discussed in terms of the need for additional research showing the relationships between increases in social competence, peer-mediated intervention, and the development and support of friendship.
Three young autistic adults were trained to purchase items. Training was conducted in one setting with concurrent generalization probes taken in three community stores. Training in one setting failed to produce generalization to the three probe settings. Generalization training, which consisted of viewing videotapes of models who purchased items in the probe settings and answering questions about the models' responses, was then introduced. Training with the videotapes resulted in generalization to the three community stores. Results of the use of videotapes as a cost-effective means to program generalization in community training programs are discussed.
Two experiments were conducted to increase the initiations and duration of social interactions between autistic and nonhandicapped youths. Experiment 1 taught two autistic youths to initiate and elaborate social interactions with three age-appropriate and commonly used leisure objects; a radio, a video game, and gum. The students were first taught to use the objects and subsequently instructed in the related social skills. The youths generalized these social responses to other nonhandicapped peers in the same leisure setting. A second experiment trained a third autistic youth to emit similar social leisure skills. The use of the leisure objects and the related social skills were taught at the same time. The autistic youth learned these skills and generalized them to other handicapped peers in the same leisure setting. The importance of teaching generalized social responding in particular subenvironments was emphasized.DESCRIPTORS: social skills, autistic youthsThe term autism denotes a withdrawal from social interaction with other persons. Individuals diagnosed as autistic display an array of behavioral pathologies such as self-injury, overselective attention, and self-stimulation that theoretically are manifestations of the underlying condition of extreme self-directedness. The thrust of past educational and research efforts has been to develop interventions that remediate the behavioral excesses and skill deficits so common among autistic persons. An initial tactic has been to reduce aberrant behavior-like aggression and self-stimulationthrough behavior management procedures (Koegel & Covert, 1972). With deviant behavior under control, interventions have been applied to remediate language deficits (Lovaas, 1977) and to teach a number of skills in the areas of self-care, perceptual development (Schreibman, Koegel, & Craig,
We taught 4 students with profound multiple disabilities to use a microswitch communication system to request a change in recreational stimuli during social interactions with nondisabled peers. In Study 1, we conducted a preference assessment across a range of stimuli for each student. The most and least preferred stimuli were incorporated into microswitch communication system training in Study 2. During the second study, 3 of the 4 students (a) learned to use the microswitch communication system to control stimulus presentation, (b) more dearly differentiated their time among stimuli, and (c) increased their level of general alertness. Study 3 extended the use of the microswitch communication system to social interactions with nondisabled peers. Two students were more engaged in interactions when they chose when to change stimuli; 1 student was more alert when a peer chose when to change activities; a 4th student showed an undifferentiated pattern. The outcomes of the investigation are discussed in terms of the effects of controlling stimulus presentation on the behavior of students with profound multiple disabilities and the stability of preference hierarchies over time.
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