Decreasing aggressive and non-compliant behaviors of students with autism through the use of an “elapsation of time” stimulus.

The researcher suggests that a possible reason for students with autism engaging in escape-maintained behaviors in inclusion settings is that there is no clear stimulus signaling the length of time until reinforcement. The researcher investigated whether a correlation exists between the use of a time stimulus and a decrease in aggressive and non-compliant behaviors of two students with autism. The time stimulus created by the experimenter was designed to show time elapsing over minutes through the use of two, colored, semi-circular disks. The discs were able to spin freely within a larger white disc that was labeled from 1 to 30 minutes. A green disc was set to a particular time and the students were taught that when the red disc covered the green, they were given access to the reinforcer. The results indicate that the time stimulus was associated with a reduction in aggressive and non-compliant behaviors. Possible explanations for the effectiveness of this device as well as improvements for future research are discussed. Some children with autism, when placed in settings in which they are included with typical peers, and have difficult demands placed on them, may engage in a variety of "inappropriate" behaviors (i.e. aggression and non-compliance). The function of these behaviors may be escape-maintained. There have been several studies citing instances in which aggressive behaviors are exhibited in demand situations and maintained by escape (Asmus, Wacker, Harding, Berg, Derby, & Kocis, 1999; Lalli, Vollmer, Progar, Wright, Borrero, Daniel, Barthold, Tocco, & May, 1999; Progar, North, Bruce, DiNovi, Nau, Eberman, Bailey, & Nussbaum, 2001). Wait times can be a triggering event for inappropriate behaviors (Rolider & Axelrod, 2000). The researcher asserts that wait times for the delivery of reinforcers can be a trigger for aggressive and noncompliant behaviors because there may be no clear stimulus signaling the time until delivery of a reinforcer (i.e., a break). It may be that children with time-telling skills can "bridge the gap" until the delivery of reinforcement. Most typical children are able to use a clock or watch to see "how much longer" they are required to engage in a particular task. Due to the pervasive deficits present in most children with autism, the use of a standard clock can be an overwhelming task. Therefore, students with autism are provided with no clear stimulus signaling time until reinforcement and thus engaging in aggressive or non-compliant behaviors may be maintained by escape. There has been very little research documenting effective alternative ways to "conceptually" teach time-telling skills to students with autism. One approach (Creekmore, Peters, Maxwell, Hunt-Lewis, Smith, & White-Roberts, 1985) proposes a switch in the method of instruction from the use of the analog clock to the digital clock. It cites the complexity of the analog clock in that it contains numerals that have no utility for the students unless they are the ones to which the hour and minute hands point specifically. Yet it notes how the digital clock contains only those numerals required to determine the exact time (Creekmore et al., 1985). Creekmore et al.'s approach pairs the numerals that appear on the face of the digital clock with specific activities that take place within the student's day in a mural format (i.e. the face of the digital clock may read 11:45 and be placed next to a picture of a student eating lunch). At specific times students are directed by the teacher to verbally read the time and label the corresponding activity that coincides with that time. This occurs throughout the day. Eventually the murals are removed and time-telling skills are generalized (Creekmore et al., 1985). Jan Rogers, a parent, inadvertently developed a device named the "Time Timer." In an attempt to teach her non-handicapped 4-year-old daughter "how much time is left," she developed a stimulus that presents a visual depiction of elapsed time. …