Decreasing inappropriate comments and interruptions during social interactions in an adolescent with a level one autism spectrum disorder diagnosis

Abstract

Appropriate conversation skills are imperative to social interactions and are consequently a common intervention for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The present study attempts to decrease inappropriate comments and interruptions made by the participant, a 13-year-old female with ASD. Using an ABAB design, the study extends the literature on the response interruption and redirection (RIRD) intervention, in combination with a self-monitoring component. During baseline, there was an average of 6 inappropriate comments and 6.17 interruptions. During intervention, there was an average of 0.63 inappropriate comments and 1.5 interruptions. During withdrawal, an average of 4 inappropriate comments and 8 interruptions. Large non-overlap of all pairs (NAP) effect sizes with a 95 % confidence interval were calculated for inappropriate comments (0.95) and interruptions (0.90) from baseline to intervention. Further, NAP effect sizes from intervention to withdrawal were also large as indicated by a score of 0.98 for inappropriate comments and 1.00 for interruptions. Following reimplementation and generalization, as well as a maintenance phase, data indicated continued low frequencies of dependent variables. Results indicate RIRD combined with a self-monitoring component was effective in decreasing inappropriate comments and interruptions in an adolescent with ASD and holds promise as a beneficial intervention to improve social skills in the ASD population.