Using Noncontingent Reinforcement to Reduce Perseverative Speech and Increase Engagement during Social Skills Instruction

Noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) is an effective technique for reducing a variety of behaviors in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD); however, prior researchers have not investigated the effects of NCR to reduce perseverative speech in children with ASD in naturalistic educational contexts. The current investigation evaluated the effects of NCR on perseverative speech and engagement for a 7-year-old boy diagnosed with ASD. After conducting functional behavior assessment (FBA), we determined the student's perseverative speech was maintained by attention. Using an A-B-A-B design, a teacher provided NCR to the student during group social skills training. Noncontingent reinforcement effectively reduced the student's perseverative speech and increased his engagement with social skills training. Results expand on prior literature by demonstrating NCR can be an effective behavior-reduction procedure for attention-maintained perseverative speech that occurs in naturalistic educational contexts; additionally, results indicated NCR increased appropriate academic behavior while simultaneously reducing inappropriate behavior.