Decreasing Disruptive Vocalizations of a Student With High-Functioning Autism Across Three General Education Classrooms

Abstract

The authors conducted this study to decrease disruptive vocalizations in a 3rd-grade student with high-functioning autism across 3 general education classrooms. They used direct and indirect approaches of functional behavior assessment to determine the function of the disruptive behavior. Results indicated that the behavior was maintained by attention from the teachers. To reduce the disruptive vocalizations, the teachers implemented noncontingent attention, which was tracked across 3 content areas with 3 different teachers in 3 settings using an AB design. Results showed decreased disruptive vocalizations across all 3 environments. Results and implications for practice and research are discussed.

Keywords:

• autism
• disruptive vocalizations
• functional behavior assessment
• general education classroom
• noncontingent attention