Token Economy Intervention for Task Completion in a Student with Autism: A Case Study

This research project examined the use of a token economy intervention on increasing on-task behavior in a student with special needs. The 15-year old female, diagnosed with Autism and was Developmentally Cognitively Disabled, would hit, spit, strip, run away, and break items in the classroom. This study used a visual schedule in combination with the tokens when the student was working on tasks. The student earned her reward, in the form of preferred items, such as beads or time in her tent, when all five tokens were moved to the right of the visual schedule. The student showed an increase of on-task behavior from a baseline level of 33% to a level of 68% during the intervention. The results suggest that a token economy would be successful in increasing on-task behaviors in students with disabilities