Teaching life skill to a teenager with autism

Abstract

Many children with autism have limited behavioral repertoires, which prevent them from achieving independence later in life. As a result, they become dependent on their therapists or their families for assistance. Previous studies have shown that teaching specific life skills to children with autism increases their independence. Thus, identifying methods that teach life skills efficiently is of great importance given the amount of information that people with autism often have to learn. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the use of total task presentation as opposed to backward chaining is more effective in teaching the use of a shopping list to a 13-year-old girl diagnosed with autism, so that she may shop with minimal supervision at the supermarket. To evaluate the effectiveness of the two methods an alternating treatments design was implemented. Results showed that the total task presentation was the most effective intervention compared to the backward chaining in teaching the participant the desirable behavior. Implications of the results are discussed and future recommendations are made accordingly.