Teaching children with autism spectrum disorder to mand for answers to questions via telehealth : a caregiver implementation.

Abstract

Information is a valuable part of learning and interacting with our environment as it allows us to behave more effectively (i.e., access reinforcement). Information can be gained by engaging in social interactions with others. However, individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have difficulties engaging in back-and-forth conversation and initiating social interactions with other individuals. There are several interventions that target teaching individuals with ASD to mand (i.e., request) for information that we identified after conducting a review of the literature. Echoic prompting and naturalistic teaching are the most frequently used interventions to teach mands for information. However, no studies found were implemented by a caregiver or via telehealth. In the current study, we systematically replicated and extended the findings of Ingvarsson and Hollobough (2010) by having caregivers implement the intervention, while receiving coaching provided via telehealth, to teach two boys and a girl diagnosed with ASD to mand for information.