TEACHING SOCIAL INITIATIONS TO CHILDREN WITH AUTISM : A COMPARISON BETWEEN TIME-DELAY AND SELF-EVALUATION PROCEDURES

Abstract

The present study compared the use of a time-delay procedure with a self­ evaluation procedure in teaching social initiations to four children with autism. Each child was taught two social initiations, one using time-delay, and the other, self­ evaluation. Specific nonverbal stimulus cues targeted at eliciting different types of social initiations were introduced into the children's play environment. The percentage of spontaneous social initiations elicited by the participants was measured. The rate of acquisition, generalisation, and maintenance were also assessed. Results indicated that while both procedures were equally successful in teaching social initiations, the self-evaluation procedure led to greater generalisation and better maintenance for three of the four participants. It was suggested that the transfer of the stimulus control from the external environment to the individual in the self­evaluation procedure might have led to better learning.