Research: Task Interspersal and Performance of Matching Tasks by Preschoolers with Autism

Authored by Benavides, CA, and Poulson CL in Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, Volume 3, Issue , p. 619-629, (2009).

Article summary (posted Oct 28, 2009):

Children with autism learned tasks better when opportunities for success were mixed with challenges.

Three children (3 to 5 years old) participated in this study. Children were asked to correctly identify letters, numbers, or pictures of animals. A token was given for a correct answer. The children needed to earn 12 tokens during a session in order to play at a child-selected activity after the session. First, children were asked questions that they did not know the answer to. There were 10 to 25 sessions with this method. The numbers of correct responses did not increase very much. Next, the researchers added an interspersal procedure. This procedure mixed questions that the child clearly knew the answer to (success) with others that they might need to learn the answer to (challenge). All 3 children learned to give correct answers most of the time using the interspersal procedure (5 to 20 sessions). They continued to give correct answers after the use of token rewards was decreased.

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animal-assisted therapy (AAT), autism, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), interspersal procedure, picture exchange communication system (PECS), play, science
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