The Role of Program Consistency in a Summer Therapeutic Camp for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

Although evidenced-based practices, delivered with procedural integrity are increasingly common in the field of autism, generalizing those practices to less traditional settings is not. The present study, conducted at a summer therapeutic camp used a single subject multiple baseline across participants research design to evaluate the effects of contingent reinforcement utilizing both a variable-interval (VI) 5-minute variable-interval Differential Reinforcement of Other behaviors (VDRO) schedule of reinforcement and a VI 5-minute momentary DRO (MDRO) schedule of reinforcement, combined with token delivery and response cost procedure on increasing compliance and decreasing disruptive behaviors for three, 8-year old males with developmental disabilities. Results are discussed in light of the positive role summer therapeutic camps may play for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and the critical role teachers and staff play in precisely delivering evidenced-based practices, especially in more non-traditional, community-centered educational settings.

Differential Reinforcement of Other Behaviors to Treat Challenging Behaviors Among Children With Autism: A Systematic and Quality Review

“…Variable and momentary DRO schedules may prove to be a viable alternative to fixed-interval DRO procedures where reinforcement is not always provided on a fixed or predictable schedule. There are some studies that have examined the relative effectiveness of variable-momentary schedules (Quinn, Nowosielski, Kitchen, & Belfiore, 2014), fixed-momentary schedules (Hammond, Iwata, Fritz, & Dempsey, 2011), and variable-interval schedules (Rozenblat, Brown, Brown, Reeve, & Reeve, 2009) with positive outcomes. Thus, research should examine additional schedule arrangements further to identify the most effective and most practical arrangements to administer DRO procedures.…”

Perspectives of Volunteer Pre-Service Teachers and Parents on a Summer Program for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders

“…The activities with sub-group and large group were planned as therapeutic activities aimed to develop social skills while IEP sessions were primarily academic-oriented. During the implementation of the program, the integrity of the program was primarily considered, which means the curriculum was followed as written to improve the success of summer program (Quinn et al, 2014). The curriculum was prepared weekly and was sent to all volunteers and families at the beginning of each week.…”