Teaching Social Communication Skills Using a Cool Versus Not Cool Procedure Plus Role-Playing and a Social Skills Taxonomy

We utilized a cool versus not cool procedure plus role-playing to teach social communication skills to three individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. The cool versus not cool procedure plus role-playing consisted of the researcher randomly demonstrating the behavior correctly (cool) two times and the behavior incorrectly (not cool) two times, followed by the participants role-playing the behavior. We utilized a multiple baseline design across participants to evaluate the effectiveness of the cool versus not cool procedure plus role-playing. The results of the study indicated that all three participants were able to increase their social communication skills following implementation of the cool versus not cool procedure; however, maintenance varied across the three participants.