Enhancing learning for children with autism spectrum disorders in regular education by instructional modifications

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Abstract

Children with autism spectrum disorders sometimes are fully included in regular education classrooms with its standard curriculum and instructional methods. Under these classroom conditions, the children might perform successfully for some academic subjects but not for others. For these latter academic subjects, standard instruction could be enhanced to promote more effective stimulus control and learning. In the present study, stimulus control was enhanced by a package of response antecedent and consequence conditions. Maintenance tasks were interspersed with acquisition tasks, and the quality, quantity, immediacy, and density of reinforcement were improved compared to classroom instruction. A stimulus preference assessment was conducted, prompts and transfer of stimulus control procedures were implemented, and tangible and token reinforcers were manipulated on ratio schedules. Rapid acquisition of diverse tasks for each of the three participants was noted. Enhanced stimulus control procedures, such as those tested in the present study, can help children with autism spectrum disorders succeed in regular education classrooms.

Section snippets

Participants

Participants included three children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder who attend a Midwestern grade school where the course grades were “does not meet criterion”, “meets criterion”, and “exceeds criterion”. All participants were fully included in regular education classrooms and participated in group instruction with their classmates. None of the children presented severe problem behavior in school, and all had an individual aide. Participants’ only academic accommodations were using

Results

Fig. 1, Fig. 2, Fig. 3 present the percentage of correct responses per trial block plotted on the ordinate and the number of sessions on the abscissa. Circles indicate acquisition data and triangles maintenance data. Although participants had stable baselines, subjective observation indicated that they maintained joint attention during the initial baseline sessions and then their attention waned until intervention was initiated. After participants met the 80% performance criterion for each

Discussion

For more than a decade, there has been an emphasis on the full inclusion of children with disabilities in regular education. Participants’ classroom performance, however, indicated that they had idiosyncratic academic difficulties with the regular education curriculum and instructional methods, even with individual aide support. This research addressed the question of how the instruction of children with autism spectrum disorders can be enhanced to benefit their academic performance. A common

Acknowledgement

We thank Nancy Simer for her assistance, and the students and personnel at Mount Vernon District 80 Primary Center.

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