Differential Effect of Autistic Label in Intervention with Children

The aim of this study is to analyze whether the label autistic (considering both the low performance and exceptional performance labels) influences the behavior of nine psychology students when teaching tasks to children with this diagnosis. The presence of various children who had to learn to perform a color discrimination task and a visual-motor task was simulated during the experiment. The participants observed the behavior of the imaginary children and could provide contingencies of reinforcement and response cost to them. Two experimental phases were established in which participants had to teach different children: an autistic child, a child without developmental problems, an autistic child who was exceptionally skilled in the tasks and a child without developmental problems who was unskilled in the tasks. The participants were informed of the characteristics of the children prior to the tasks. Results show significant differences in the participants’ response patterns depending on the experimental conditions and tasks. The influence of the autistic label is discussed in terms of the participants’ behavior. How to cite: Barbero-Rubio A, Molina-Cobos FJ, Eisenbeck N, & López JC (2016). Effecto diferencial de la etiqueta autista en la intervención de niños [Differential effect of autistic label in intervention with children]. International Journal of Psychology and Psychological Therapy, 16, 281-293