The pilot investigation evaluated a theatrical intervention program, Social Emotional NeuroScience Endocrinology (SENSE) Theatre, designed to improve socioemotional functioning and reduce stress in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Eight children with ASD were paired with typically developing peers that served as expert models. Neuropsychological, biological (cortisol and oxytocin), and behavioral measures were assessed in a pretest–posttest design. The intervention was embedded in a full musical theatrical production. Participants showed some improvement in face identification and theory of mind skills. The intervention shows potential promise in improving the socioemotional functioning in children with ASD through the utilization of peers, video and behavioral modeling, and a community-based theatrical setting.

Disruptive behavior is considered the most common concern among general education teachers. Due to the nature of disruptive behavior amongst multiple students in the classroom, it ha been suggested that the most reasonable way of handling disruptive classroom behavior is through group contingencies while utilizing token economies. The present study evaluated the effectiveness of token economies within a general education classroom. Two elementary school teachers and their students participated. Conditions included baseline, response cost, and gain. During response cost conditions, tokens were removed contingent on disruptive behavior. During gain conditions, tokens were provided contingent on the absence of disruptive behavior. Results indicate that both procedures are effective to reduce the overall number of students disrupting and neither condition completely suppressed disruptive behavior. Implications are that both response cost and gain procedures are an efficient procedure to reduce the overall number of students disrupting in the general education classroom.

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