Errorless Academic Compliance Training: Improving Generalized Cooperation With Parental Requests in Children With Autism

Abstract

Objective: Children with autism often demonstrate distress and oppositionality when exposed to requests to complete academic or household tasks. Errorless academic compliance training is a success-focused, noncoercive intervention for improving child cooperation with such activities. In the present study, the authors evaluated treatment and generalization effects of this intervention on four children diagnosed with autism. Method: In a multiple baseline across-subjects design, parents delivered a range of academic and nonacademic requests to their children to determine the probability of compliance for each request. A hierarchy of academic requests ranging from those yielding high compliance (level 1) to those yielding low compliance (level 4) was then developed. Treatment began with the concentrated delivery of level 1 requests, with praise and reward for compliant responses. Over several weeks, children were gradually introduced to requests from subsequent probability levels with continued reward for compliance. Results: High compliance levels were demonstrated throughout and following treatment. Evidence of generalization to untrained academic requests and nonacademic requests emerged. Treatment gains were maintained up to 6 months after treatment. Conclusions: Errorless academic compliance training appears to be an effective intervention for enhancing generalized compliance in children with autism. © 2004 The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.