Teaching adolescents with autism to describe a problem and request assistance during simulated vocational tasks

Previous research suggests that vocational skills training for individuals with autism may increase the likelihood that they may be effectively employed. In the present study, a multiple-baseline-across-participants design was used to assess the effects of graduated guidance, scripts, and script fading to teach four adolescents with autism in a simulated vocational setting to approach an instructor, describe a work-related problem, and request assistance. Although none of the participants emitted these skills during baseline, the introduction of the teaching procedure resulted in all participants learning these skills. Generalization measures indicated that the participants also learned to emit the target skills in the presence of work-related materials not directly associated with training. In addition, pre- and post-treatment measures showed that the participants learned to emit the target skills in a different setting not associated with training.