Training children with autism spectrum disorders to be compliant with an oral assessment

Little research has been conducted on teaching children with autism spectrum disorders to be compliant with dental procedures. This study evaluated a behavioral package to train children with autism spectrum disorders to be compliant with an 8 component oral assessment. After a dental hygienist performed an assessment pretest, noncompliance on steps of the assessment was targeted for training. A package of training procedures was implemented, including a preference assessment, priming DVD, various prompts, stimulus fading (i.e., fading in aversive stimuli), distracting stimuli, escape extinction, and differential reinforcement. Results showed the efficacy of the intervention procedures, maintenance of responding, and stimulus generalization of responses across examiners and from analog to in vivo settings. The study extends the generality of a model for the assessment and intervention of noncompliance to health care procedures by children with autism spectrum disorders.