The Effect of Delay to Reinforcement and Response Effort on Response Variability for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) is a tool used by individuals unable to communicate or experience difficulty communicating vocally. Previous research has demonstrated that individuals will vary their communicative responding when reinforcement is delayed and when the response effort to communicate is increased. This study evaluated the effect of adjusting these variables to alter responding of three elementary age individuals with autism spectrum disorder who used AAC. A reversal design allowed for an evaluation of a functional relation between delay to reinforcement, response effort, and communication response allocation. When these parameters were changed, two participants shifted their responding while the third participant maintained his response allocation. This research provides further evidence that altering delay to reinforcement and response effort may aid in moving an individual from an AAC to spoken language. The researchers discuss outcomes in terms of how these variables can be manipulated in practice and the potential for altering other parameters of reinforcement in context of communication training.