A Preliminary Analysis of Procedures to Teach Children with Autism to Report Past Behavior

Deficits in reporting past behavior may have implications for a child’s social development and safety. Behavioral interpretations of memory and research on do/say correspondence provide valuable strategies to teach reporting past behavior when deficits are observed. The current study examined procedures to teach accurate reporting of past behavior following a delay for two children diagnosed with autism. During baseline, both participants accurately reported past behavior when immediately probed. Neither participant emitted accurate reporting following a delay during end-of-day probes. Treatment procedures included prompting, reinforcement, and fading procedures designed to maintain stimulus control across the delay. Both participants demonstrated accurate reporting of past behavior on delayed probes, including when conducted by a caregiver.