A Comparison of Instructive Feedback During High and Low Demand Contexts On Intraverbals For Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

An adapted alternating treatments design was used to evaluate the effect of context on the acquisition of intraverbals for three young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) when utilizing instructive feedback (IF). All participants acquired secondary targets when presented in an instructional setting along with primary targets. Two participants acquired secondary targets in the absence of primary targets and treatment – one participant in an instructional setting (high demand) and another participant in a novel setting (low demand). A third participant did not acquire any secondary targets in the absence of primary targets and direct training. All participants had generalized responding to novel therapists and untrained Wh-questions. Responding maintained across 2- and 4-week probes for most participants, with some mild (e.g., less than 10% reduction) to moderate decrements (e.g., over 50% reduction in responding) observed. Finally, caregivers provided social validity ratings of the procedures used. Caregivers provided generally positive ratings of the procedures, but these ratings appeared to change once caregivers were shown how their individual child responded to each procedure. Specifically, caregivers tended to rate procedures that were effective for their child more favorably following a review of their child’s performance. Future directions for research and clinical applications of IF procedures are discussed