The effectiveness of least to most prompting procedure teaching strategy in varying pretend play behaviours of children with autism spectrum disorder

The aim of the study is to examine the effectiveness of least to most prompting procedure teaching strategy in varying pretend play behaviors of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Pretend functional play behaviors (fictional play with toys) are thought under pre-determined play-theme to the children in the study. Untargeted information presentation related to naming of the actions including verbal expression of targeted play behaviors in pre-determined play-theme was carried out and multiple examplars were used in generalization sessions of these actions. A multiple probe design across participant was used in the study. Three boys, with ASD, the age of whom ranges from 3 to 6 attended the study. The results of the study showed that all the participants gained pretend play behaviors which were targeted in play-theme, generalized these behaviors among different equipment and sustained these behaviors about 1, 2 and 3 weeks after teaching sessions ended. Besides, increase in untargeted information acquisition level of participants was observed and they non-generalized the acquisition to multiple examplars. Social validity data gathered from parents of the participants revealed that the study is strong from social validity. Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder, Least to most prompting teaching, Play behavior, Untargeted information, Multiple sample