| dc.description.abstract | Over recent years, the field of applied behavior analysis (ABA) has trended toward increased focus on improving the ethics and social validity of behavior analytic interventions. As part of this shift, ABA researchers and practitioners have begun to call long-held practices into question and seek alternative options. Despite their evidence base, some ABA practices may involve goals or procedures considered unacceptable to direct consumers, particularly those who directly receive intervention. The purpose of these two studies was to identify, implement, and assess more socially valid practices for use with children—particularly young autistic children, who are the most common recipients of ABA services. In the first study, we conducted a survey of 660 autistic adults, parents of young autistic children, and practitioners who serve young autistic children. We gathered quantitative and qualitative data to assess the social acceptability of goals, learning contexts, and behavioral intervention procedures typically implemented with young autistic children. Results indicated that understanding the perspectives of autistic adults and other stakeholders can inform educational practices, to make them more autistic-affirming and socially valid. In the second study, we adapted two established behavioral interventions (functional communication training [FCT] and schedule thinning) to be less restrictive and more socially valid. We assessed the efficacy of these adapted interventions with three preschool-aged participants, two of whom were autistic, in the context of single case research designs. Adapted FCT resulted in increased communication and decreased challenging behavior across participants, adapted schedule thinning resulted in increased delay tolerance for two of three participants, and social validity measures were inconclusive. These results indicated that established behavioral interventions can be adapted to improve social validity, and still achieve meaningful outcomes for some learners. | |
