Increasing response diversity in children with autism.

Repetitive and invariant behavior is a diagnostic feature of autism. We implemented a lag reinforcement schedule to increase response diversity for 6 participants with autism aged 6 to 10 years, 4 of whom also received prompting plus additional training. These procedures appeared to increase the variety of building-block structures, demonstrating that an intervention that includes differential reinforcement can increase response diversity for children with an autism spectrum disorder.

[1]  A. Neuringer.  Reinforced variability in animals and people: implications for adaptive action. , 2004, The American psychologist.

[2]  J. Bodfish.  Treating the core features of autism: are we there yet? , 2004, Mental retardation and developmental disabilities research reviews.

[3]  Peter Sturmey,et al.  The Effects of Lag Schedules and Preferred Materials on Variable Responding in Students with Autism , 2006, Journal of autism and developmental disorders.

[4]  M H Lewis,et al.  Varieties of Repetitive Behavior in Autism: Comparisons to Mental Retardation , 2000, Journal of autism and developmental disorders.

[5]  M. O'Reilly,et al.  Enhancing the effectiveness of a play intervention by abolishing the reinforcing value of stereotypy: a pilot study. , 2009, Journal of applied behavior analysis.

[6]  D M Baer,et al.  Social control of form diversity and the emergence of new forms in children's blockbuilding. , 1973, Journal of applied behavior analysis.

[7]  J. McComas,et al.  The effects of differential and lag reinforcement schedules on varied verbal responding by individuals with autism. , 2002, Journal of applied behavior analysis.

[8]  M. Turner,et al.  Annotation: Repetitive behaviour in autism: a review of psychological research. , 1999, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[9]  E. Courchesne,et al.  Evidence for a cerebellar role in reduced exploration and stereotyped behavior in autism , 2001, Biological Psychiatry.

[10]  G. P. Hanley,et al.  Use of a lag differential reinforcement contingency to increase varied selections of classroom activities. , 2005, Journal of applied behavior analysis.