Teaching a Child with Autism to Mand for Information Using “How”

Background: To date, only one published study has provided procedures on teaching children with autism to request information using “How” questions (Shillingsburg & Valentino, 2011). Asking questions using “how” is particularly important given its functional use in everyday settings. The ability to seek information regarding how to do things and how things work is a crucial skill for children with autism. Often children with autism may be placed in settings where they are asked to complete unknown tasks. If an instructor is unaware that the child does not know how to complete a task, the child may not complete his or her work and this lack of work completion may result in negative consequences (e.g., problem behavior). However, if a child can effectively request “how” he can then obtain information in order to effectively complete the task. This crucial skill allows for a child to effectively learn from the environment in a way that many typically developing children already do.

Objectives:  Objectives of the current study include a procedure to teach requests for information using “how” to obtain information to complete spelling tasks and other activities. Procedures also assess for generalization and functional use of the information.

Methods:  Josh, a 7-year-old male diagnosed with autism, participated. A multiple baseline experimental design was used to assess treatment effects. Preferred activities were identified to use as scenarios in the study (e.g., spelling, using walkie-talkies, and calling people on the phone). Scenarios included activities Josh could complete without assistance and some activities in which he needed information or assistance to complete. Sessions were only conducted when there was a motivation to complete the activity. The spelling activity was chosen for treatment. The therapist presented, in an alternating fashion, words Josh could spell independently and some in which he needed assistance.  If Josh could not complete the word independently the therapist used a vocal prompt via a time delay procedure to prompt the question “How do you do it?”.  Interspersing known and unknown spelling words served to promote discrimination between spelling opportunities  in which asking “How?” was needed versus times when he could spell independently. Data were also collected on use of the information provided after the request “How” was emitted. Generalization probes were then conducted to assess if Josh would emit the request “How?” during novel activities.

Results:  Prior to intervention Josh did not engage in the request for “How’’ when needing information to complete an activity (i.e., spelling). Following intervention, Josh acquired the request “How” during spelling activities and was also able to discriminate between times he did and did not need the information. Data also indicate that Josh successfully used the information provided in response to the request.

Conclusions:  The results show the participant was able to acquire and appropriately use the request “How?” within several scenarios. Though teaching “How?” across multiple scenarios was needed, the participant was able to generalize to one additional activity. Overall, the current study compliments and extends the limited previous research surrounding teaching the request “How?” to children diagnosed with autism.