Single-Session IISCA and Skill-Based Treatment to reduce challenging behaviors: a single case study

Abstract

Background: Communication and social interaction deficits are one of the criteria for diagnosing Autism Spectrum Disorder. These deficits can lead to frustration and failures, with the risk of developing challenging behaviors as practical strategies to compensate for communication difficulties. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of the Skill-Based treatment in reducing problem behaviors and enhancing communication, tolerance, and collaboration skills of a child with autism spectrum disorder, starting from the Single-Session Synthesized Functional Analysis.
Methods: We used a changing Criterion Design to study the efficacy of the training. The functional analysis was the baseline. The independent variable consisted of the IISCA (Interview-Informed Synthesized Contingency Analysis) (Hanley et al., 2014) and the treatment, which included functional communication training (FCR), tolerance training for waiting and denial (TRT), and the teaching of increasingly advanced collaboration responses. The dependent variable in the functional analysis was the number of occurrences of problem behaviors; during the treatment, we also measured independent functional communications, tolerance responses, and contextually appropriate behaviors.
Results: The intervention is still ongoing; however, the collected data demonstrate the effectiveness of IISCA and the treatment: specifically, collected data show a reduction in problem behaviors and independent acquisition of functional communication and tolerance response.
Conclusions Since this procedure based on the Omnibus Mand is still very recent, future research may focus on evaluating its long-term effects and the social significance of the results.