Teaching children with autism how to respond to the lures of strangers

A multiple probe design was used to assess the combined effects of videomodeling, graduated guidance and community-based instruction for teaching children with autism how to protect themselves from the lures of strangers. Parental opinions were also assessed in the study. Three children with autism (aged 6 to 11 years) participated in the study. Data indicated that videomodeling with graduated guidance and community-based instruction was effective for teaching children with autism how to protect themselves from the lures of strangers. Also it can be seen that participants maintained the acquired skill over time and applied it to novel settings. Furthermore, generalization was maintained over time. The parents of the participants reported positive opinions regarding the aims, procedures, and results of the study. Based on an evaluation of the findings, implications and future research needs are discussed.