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A concurrent multiple baseline across participants design evaluated the effects of behavioral skills training (BST) on abduction-prevention skills of four children with autism. Across phases, confederates presented four types of abduction lures: (a) simple requests, (b) appeals to authority, (c) assistance requests, and (d) incentives. During baseline, lures resulted in children leaving with confederate strangers. During intervention, BST targeted a three-step response (i.e., refuse, move away, and report) and the abduction-prevention skills of all participants improved. Improvements generalized to novel settings and confederates and were maintained at 4 weeks. There is currently limited research on abduction-prevention pertaining to individuals with ASD. BST can be used to teach abduction-prevention skills to individuals with ASD. BST can be effective at teaching appropriate responses to multiple types of abduction lures. The effects of BST on multiple responses to multiple types of lures can generalize across settings and people and maintain over time.

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A multiple baseline design across participants was used to demonstrate the effects of a script-training procedure on the peer-to-peer communication of 3 children with autism spectrum disorder during group play with peers. Both scripted and unscripted initiations as well as responses to peers increased for all 3 participants. Stimulus generalization across novel toys, settings, and peers was observed. Novel unscripted initiations, responses, and appropriate changes in topics during peer-to-peer exchanges were analyzed by considering the cumulative frequency of these behaviors across phases of the study. Treatment gains were maintained during 4-week follow-up sessions. Results are discussed in terms of recommendations for practitioners, response variability, and potential future avenues of research.