Two electrophysiological studies tested the hypothesis that operant conditioning of mu rhythms via neurofeedback training can renormalize mu suppression, an index of mirror neuron activity, and improve behavior in children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In Study 1, eight high-functioning ASD participants were assigned to placebo or experimental groups before 10 weeks of training of the mu frequency band (8-13 Hz). Following training, experimental participants showed decreased mu power and coherence, increased sustained attention ability, and improved scores on subscales of the ATEC compared to the placebo group. Both groups showed improvement in imitation ability. In Study 2, 19 high-functioning ASD children underwent a similar procedure with verified diagnoses, a modified double-blind protocol, and training of the high mu band (10-13 Hz). The results showed decreases in amplitude but increases in phase coherence in mu rhythms and normalization of mu rhythm suppression in experimental participants compared to placebo. Furthermore, like Study 1, participants showed improvements in sustained attention and in ATEC scores but no improvements in imitation following training. This suggests that training of the mu rhythm can be effective in producing changes in EEG and behavior in high-functioning ASD children, but does not affect imitation behavior per se.

Elopement is a common and potentially dangerous form of problem behavior. Results of a functional analysis found that the elopement of a child with autism was maintained by access to stereotypy in the form of door play. We implemented functional communication training and contingency‐based delays dependent on the absence of elopement and increased the amount of time the participant waited prior to engaging in stereotypy. We also conducted treatment‐extension probes, with the participant waiting up to 10 min without elopement.

We replicated and extended research on incorporating naturalistic discriminative stimuli into schedule thinning following functional communication training with three boys with autism spectrum disorder who engaged in severe behavior. Comparing naturalistic to arbitrary discriminative stimuli, two participants demonstrated differentiated communication in fewer sessions when arbitrary stimuli were used, while the third participant mastered the discriminations in a comparable number of sessions. Although previous research has demonstrated success in rapidly thinning the schedule with arbitrary stimuli, we extended this line of research by evaluating the extent to which differentiated communication would maintain during rapid schedule thinning in both naturalistic and arbitrary conditions. Two participants' communication remained differentiated, and in both conditions, during rapid schedule thinning. However, neither discrimination maintained for the third participant. Results are discussed in terms of the existing literature and directions for future research.

We incorporated an activity schedule (MacDuff et al., 1993) into schedule thinning (Hanley et al., 2014) following functional communication training in the treatment of problem behavior of a child with autism, systematically replicating and extending research on activity schedules and schedule thinning. When the activity schedule was introduced, independent engagement increased, rates of communication responses decreased, and problem behavior remained low. Results are discussed in terms of advantages of activity schedules during schedule thinning, conceptual implications for including activity schedules, and directions for future research.