Promoting Accurate Variability of Social Skills in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Teach three social exemplars, then reinforce any new answer with a Lag 2 rule—kids with autism quickly sound less robotic and more natural.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Five elementary kids with autism joined a social skills group. First they learned three ways to answer each social question. Then the team added a Lag 2 or Lag 4 rule: kids had to give a new answer before earning praise.
The study used a multiple-baseline design across social questions. They tracked how many different, appropriate answers each child gave during 10-minute group sessions.
What they found
After the lag rule started, every child began offering fresh answers. No one repeated the same phrase over and over. Varied social responses jumped up and stayed high.
The gains held while the group kept meeting. Kids still used new answers even when the lag rule eased.
How this fits with other research
Olin et al. (2020) got the same lift with Lag 1 and Lag 2, but they used echoic prompts and picture cards instead of multiple-exemplar training first. Both papers show lag rules work; the difference is whether you front-load exemplars or prompt during the session.
Poppes et al. (2016) tried lag schedules alone for intraverbal variety. Only two of three kids improved until extra variability drills were added. Cohrs et al. (2017) show that teaching three exemplars before the lag schedule may prevent that failure.
Parilla et al. (2023) moved the same lag logic into a teen’s home sessions. Their single-case success widens the age range and proves the tactic travels beyond clinic groups.
Why it matters
If you run social skills groups, teach three good answers first, then set a Lag 2 requirement. You will hear less scripting and more natural back-and-forth. The setup is low cost: just mark new answers with tokens or praise. Try it next session and watch flexible social language grow.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Restricted and repetitive behavior is a central feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), with such behaviors often resulting in lack of reinforcement in social contexts. The present study investigated training multiple exemplars of target behaviors and the utilization of lag schedules of reinforcement in the context of social skills training to promote appropriate and varied social behavior in children with ASD. Five participants with ASD between the ages of 7 and 9 attended a twice-weekly social skills group for 8 weeks. A multiple probe design across skills was utilized to assess intervention effects. During baseline, participants demonstrated low levels of skill accuracy and low appropriate variability in responding. During continuous reinforcement with one trained exemplar, skill accuracy increased while appropriate variability remained low. Training of three exemplars of target skills resulted in minimal improvements in appropriate variability. Introduction of a Lag 2 schedule with three trained exemplars was generally associated with increased appropriate variability. Further appropriate variability was observed during Lag 4 with three trained exemplars. Limitations and implications are discussed.
Behavior modification, 2017 · doi:10.1177/0145445516655428