Sibling self-management: Programming for generalization to improve interactions between typically developing siblings and children with autism spectrum disorders

The present study taught typically developing (TD) siblings of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) social-communicative and self-management skills. The authors' hypothesized that the acquisition of self-management skills would support generalization of targeted social-communicative responses. A multiple baseline probe design across sibling dyads was used to decrease exposure to unnecessary sessions in the absence of intervention. Four TD siblings were taught self-management of a social skills curriculum using behavioral skills training, which consisted of instructions, modeling, practice, and subsequent feedback. Results indicated that TD siblings learned to self-manage the social skills curriculum with some generalization across novel settings and over time. Comparisons of social-communicative responses to their typical peers provided some support for the social validity of the intervention outcomes. These results support the use of self-management, when explicitly programming for generalization, which continues to be a key consideration when including TD siblings in interventions with their siblings with ASD.