Discussion and Analysis of Classroom Contexts on the Social Behaviors of Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Jennifer M. Asmus, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Early in development, infants with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) often fail to attend to social stimuli, and as young children, they frequently lack the motivation to engage in social reciprocity (Dunlap & Koegel, 1980). Such extreme deficits in social behavior are likely to manifest themselves during social interactions with typical classroom peers. Therefore, ensuring that students with ASD benefit socially in general education classrooms remains a challenging task. Although sufficient opportunities for peer interaction are available in general education settings, research confirms that the extent to which children with ASD actually access these opportunities remains infrequent and inconsistent. While there is research that demonstrates the effectiveness of specific interventions to address the social interactions of these students with peers, there is limited research focusing on how the classroom context affects the quantity and quality of those interactions. There is also limited research on systematically assessing appropriate social skills as well as deficits in natural settings, during natural interactions prior to the implementation of an intervention. The field of applied behavior analysis (ABA) has developed a number of assessment and intervention techniques that have successfully been demonstrated to increase appropriate skills through the manipulation of the environment and direct skill instruction (e.g., see Kamps et al., 1995; Sasso et al., 1998). The purpose of this presentation will be to examine recent research documenting the influence of classroom contextual factors on the occurrence of appropriate and inappropriate social behaviors demonstrated by students with autism as well as discussion of a systematic approach for adapting ABA technology to identify the specific social intervention needs of children with ASD in general education classrooms.