Behavioral Skills Training to Improve the Abduction-Prevention Skills of Children with Autism.

Abstract

A concurrent multiple baseline across participants design evaluated the effects of behavioral skills training (BST) on abduction-prevention skills of four children with autism. Across phases, confederates presented four types of abduction lures: (a) simple requests, (b) appeals to authority, (c) assistance requests, and (d) incentives. During baseline, lures resulted in children leaving with confederate strangers. During intervention, BST targeted a three-step response (i.e., refuse, move away, and report) and the abduction-prevention skills of all participants improved. Improvements generalized to novel settings and confederates and were maintained at 4weeks. There is currently limited research on abduction-prevention pertaining to individuals with ASD. BST can be used to teach abduction-prevention skills to individuals with ASD. BST can be effective at teaching appropriate responses to multiple types of abduction lures. The effects of BST on multiple responses to multiple types of lures can generalize across settings and people and maintain over time.