Children on the autism spectrum often experience difficulty generalizing social skills across environments and contexts, which can make developing friendships challenging in early childhood. This means that, in addition to initial social skills instruction, children with autism may need specialized supports to promote the generalization of newly…

Social skills training programs have increasingly enlisted same-age typical peers as instructors in the teaching of social skills to children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The inclusion of peers in the teaching process has been found to be a critical component in these programs. Despite strong support for incorporating…

A brief training package consisting of pre-teaching of appropriate grocery item--gathering skills and reinforcement for appropriate behavior was used to teach a child diagnosed with autism to remain in a store and participate in shopping without exhibiting tantrums. The training package began with teaching the necessary component skills and…

Descriptive praise has been recommended widely as an important teaching tactic for children with autism, despite the absence of published supporting evidence. We compared the effects of descriptive and general praise on the acquisition and maintenance of intraverbal skills with 2 children with autism. The results showed slight advantages of…

This booklet identifies and discusses methods and procedures to facilitate appropriate social interactions between children and youth with autism and classroom teachers and other school personnel. It is designed to provide information and techniques that are useful in developing social interaction programs. An overview of four approaches commonly…

The use of prompting to increase peer-tutoring skills in an entire third grade classroom was investigated. A multiple baseline design was used in establishing three tutoring components: praise corrective feedback, and re-presenting the question. Results indicated that all three tutoring behaviors increased after prompting. During the last…

Parents should realize the importance of being their child's first teacher and should project an attitude of respect in helping children acquire skills while maintaining self-esteem. The five basic tools necessary for teaching children include: nonjudgmental feedback, task analysis, starting with the last step first, prompting, and praise. (JDD)

Three older adults with severe/moderate mental retardation learned aerobic-type exercises in a group setting using a system of prompts and contingent praise. Prompt fading facilitated maintenance of the exercise skills in the absence of instruction, and skills were maintained at a nine-month follow-up assessment. However, only slight increases in…

A behavioral treatment program was used to improve the functional skills of a 12-year-old anoxic child. Neuropsychological test results indicated marked amnesia and global cognitive deficits. Functionally, self-care tasks could be performed, but only with verbal and physical prompting. Introduction of a monetary reward system significantly reduced…

Two preservice teachers working with middle school students with severe disabilities participated in this study of the acquisition, generalization, and maintenance of skills relating to use of positive consequences and instructional prompts. Results indicated that immediate feedback was more effective than delayed feedback, skills were maintained…