Using Script and Script Fading Procedures to Promote Social Conversations by a Youth with Autism

Abstract

Study objective:The aims of the present study were to evaluate the effectiveness of script and script fading procedures used to teach a youth with autism to initiate social conversations in 5 different joint-action routines, and to examine the target behaviors that he emitted in school and at home. Design: A multiple-baseline-across-activities experimental design. Setting: 5 joint-action routines, including snacks, a card game, drawings, and 2 circle times. Participant. A 12-year-old boy with autism (IQ 36) who was attending a school for special needs education. Interventions: 2 packages: (a) training on reading a script using prompts and reinforcers (stickers and verbal praise), and (b) gradual fading of the script with the reinforcement contingency intact. Measures: Occurrences of 21 unscripted target verbal behaviors. Results: After the introduction of the scripts, the youth learned to use the scripted statements in conversations during a series of activities. As the scripts were faded from the last word to the first, occurrences of unscripted statements increased. In school and home settings, the participant demonstrated the 12 newly acquired conversation skills, and the frequency of his spontaneous utterances and the length of his utterances increased.