The effectiveness of simultaneous prompting in teaching adaptive behaviors to adolescents with autism

This study examined the effectiveness of simultaneous prompting in teaching adaptive behaviors to individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The study aimed to teach the skill of saving a number written on paper to a cell phone by name. A single-subject research model with a non-concurrent multiple baseline model between participants was used in the study. The study followed a multiple exemplar generalization strategy and aimed to teach adolescents with ASD the skills of saving a phone number written on paper, saving a verbally given phone number, and saving a missed call number. The findings indicated that simultaneous prompting was effective in teaching individuals with ASD how to save a phone number on a mobile phone. The adolescent participants with ASD generalized the learned skills across multiple exemplars, and the acquired behaviors were maintained eight weeks after the completion of the study. Experts who provided social validity data mostly expressed positive opinions about the study.