The effectiveness of self-management teaching for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder on the skills of self-management and on-task engagement and task completion

This study aimed at examining the effect of a self-management instruction which consists of self-cueing, self-monitoring, self-evaluation, and self-reinforcement on the acquisition and maintenance of self-management strategies to students with ASD and the effect of self-management strategies taught them on their engaging and completing task behaviors. In addition, maintenance and generalization across persons and settings data were collected both for self-management strategies and engaging and completing tasks. Furthermore, opinions of students' mothers and teachers regarding social validity of the study were investigated. The research was conducted at a private special education and rehabilitation center, which is located in Konya. Three participants, two male and one female, aged between 10 and 12 and diagnosed with ASD, participated in the study. Using a one-to-one instruction arrangement, the research employed multiple probe model with inter-participant probe trials of single-subject research models to evaluate the impact of the independent variable. Acquisition, monitoring, and generalization data were collected using criterion-dependent measurement tools, whole interval recordings, and permanent product recordings, while inter-observer reliability and implementation reliability data were also collected in the study. The effect size was determined by calculating the percentage of non-overlapping data on the teaching of self-management strategies and the level of ASD students' use of self-management strategies and the levels of the ability to engage in and complete tasks by using the strategies. Research findings have shown that a self-management strategies teaching composed of self-cueing, self-monitoring, self-evaluation, and self-reinforcement is effective in helping ASD students acquire self-management strategies and that students continue to use the strategies after the intervention. In addition, it was determined that the use of self-management strategies was associated with an increase in task engagement and task completion and that the gains made were sustained post-intervention, with the strategies generalizing to different people and settings. Semi-structured interviews revealed that both students' mothers and teachers had a positive view of the use of self-management strategies and their effects.