Reinforcing the prospective remembering of children with autism spectrum disorder

Four children with autism played a board game called Virtual Week.

Each turn gave them a small job to do later, like hand over a card when the bell rings.

If they did the job on time they got a sticker and praise.

The team tracked how many jobs each child remembered without help.

All four kids got better at remembering the jobs once the stickers started.

Three of the four kept doing the jobs even after the stickers stopped.

The skill held up one week later with no extra practice.

Kretschmer et al. (2014) tried a different fix with adults: if-then plans instead of prizes.

Their adults got only tiny gains, while these kids soared with simple reinforcement.

The gap makes sense: young kids respond strongly to stickers, and single-case designs pick up quick jumps that group studies can miss.

Grainger et al. (2017) showed that children with autism already have the basic memory tools; Peisley et al. just added fuel to use them.

Together the papers say: the memory system is fine—give it a reason to work.

You can boost future-minded behavior in young clients with nothing fancier than praise and a sticker.

Build tiny "remember to do X when Y happens" tasks into games or routines, deliver a quick reinforcer, then fade the prize once the child hits mastery.

Check a week later; if the skill sticks you have a cheap, low-prep tool for teaching things like handing in homework, flushing, or turning off the iPad.