| Summary: | Autism spectrum disorders are characterized by social deficits. These social deficits are pronounced and include responding abnormally to social stimuli, such as smiles, eyes and faces. This study sought to examine responsiveness to social stimuli during free choice between social interaction and solitary play. Two persons diagnosed with ASD who displayed social deficits participated in this study. During the free choice assessment, two sets of identical play materials were
available, one set on each side of the room. On the social side, an adult who interacted with the participant was present. On the non-social side, an adult was present but she did not interact with the participant. Preference for social interaction was obtained as was the quality of social behavior emitted by the participant. Then a free-operant social preference assessment was used to identify social reinforcers. Prompt fading and a script was used to train social interactions with an
adult. The preferred social stimuli were used as reinforcers during this training. Pre assessment sessions indicated that the participants did not engage in complex social interactions and there was a variety of preference for social interactions. Post-assessment sessions indicated the emergence of social skills that were not previously present and the emergence of a preference for social interactions in one of the participants.
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