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…

Discrete-trial functional analysis (DTFA) is an experimental method for determining the variables maintaining problem behavior in the context of natural routines. Functional communication training (FCT) is an effective method for replacing problem behavior, once identified, with a functionally equivalent response. We implemented these procedures…

This article describes a family-centered collaborative approach to the development and socially valid assessment of Social Stories[TM] and comic strip conversations (CSCs) for supporting the social behaviors in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Seventeen children with ASD (ages 4-12 years) participated in either an immediate or a…

This study was an exploratory study of 34 South Korean early childhood educators' strategies for addressing behavior problems in natural settings. Factors related to teachers' strategy implementation were also explored. Four specific teacher behaviors were observed: precorrection, behavioral-specific praise, redirection, and reprimand/punishment.…

The literature suggests that adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) typically are not socially engaged during unstructured school activities and do not initiate social activities with typically developing peers. This study assessed whether implementing socialization opportunities in the form of lunch clubs based around aspects of the…

This study used interviews and classroom observation to follow up a survey of 78 Head Start staff from five programs in the mid-Atlantic region. The purpose of the study was to collect additional details about administrator and staff needs in regard to addressing children's challenging behavior in order to design a PBS in-service intervention.…

Naturalistic interventions show promise for improving language in children with autism. Specific interventions differ in direct elicitation of child language and indirect language stimulation, and thus may produce different language outcomes. This study compared the effects of responsive interaction, milieu teaching, and a combined intervention on…

While the number of children diagnosed with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders (HFASD) continues to rise, the number of research-based methods to meet the needs of this population lags behind. Social dysfunction is perhaps the most pervasive and debilitating deficit for those diagnosed with HFASD. This article presents a narrative review…

There is increasing demand for access to effective interventions for families who have children with autism. Self-directed learning models have been successfully used with other populations as a way to reduce the service-need discrepancy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate, through a randomized clinical trial, whether the use of a…

This study was a follow-up of a group of 29 children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders at age 2 who attended an inclusive toddler program until age 3. Children ranged in age from 4 to 12 years at the time of the parent survey and follow-up testing. The majority of children were placed in a special education (noninclusive) preschool class,…

Video modeling has been suggested as a powerful treatment tool that has concentrated on increasing a variety of skills in children with autism. However, it has rarely been examined as a behavioral procedure for eliminating kinds of behaviors (e.g., noncompliance), a target that is often included in children's support plans. The present study…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a family-centered positive behavior support approach to the amelioration of food refusal behavior in a child with autism. The study was conducted with the child and his family in their home. It employed an empirical case study design with one meal routine: snack time. Following…

The authors describe a choice-making intervention with two children who had developmental disabilities and demonstrated public disrobing in school settings. The children also urinated in their clothing, apparently to gain access to new and more preferred apparel. The intervention gave the children a choice to change into high-preference clothes at…

The "Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions" (JPBI) has been publishing reports of empirical intervention research since 1999, with a commitment to serve as a vehicle for dissemination of data and perspectives pertinent to positive behavior support (PBS). PBS is distinguished by an emphasis on certain features of interventions, such as…

Clearly, imitation is linked to a variety of skill areas. As a result, children with autism and developmental delays are less likely than their typical peers to perform well in many areas of development, including play and speech. The purpose of this study was to determine if a simple, teacher-friendly strategy could be implemented that would…