Increasing Confident Thoughts in an Adolescent With Autism: A Pilot Study

Private events such as thoughts and feelings occur within the individual and are inaccessible to outside observers. Creating interventions for troublesome private events, therefore, is challenging. Precision teaching has a number of studies where participants self-count targeted private events and intervene by engaging in 1-min timings of positive thoughts. The present pilot study extended the 1-min timing procedure to a 15-year-old girl with autism spectrum disorder. After the intervention, the participant’s level of despondent thoughts dropped by ÷4.55 in level, with lower levels of anxiety and depression as measured by the Beck Anxiety Inventory and the Beck Depression Inventory.