Systematic Review: Effects of Positive Support Interventions on Decreasing Maladaptive Behaviors in Children With Autism

• In Event: Poster Session 02
  In Poster Session: PS 02 Topic - Education, Schooling

Abstract

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are often excluded from general education settings because of maladaptive behaviors (Kieron et al., 2013), negatively impacting their access to the general curriculum and engagement with peers (Koegel et al., 2012). Positive support interventions, defined as a combination of behavioral and psychological approaches to provide supports needed to achieve goals while reducing problem behaviors and barriers (Dunlap & Carr, 2007), have emerged as one possible avenue towards limiting aggressive and disruptive behaviors (Sugai et al., 2009). These interventions may facilitate the child’s development, promoting the social-emotional aspects of school readiness, including self-regulation and establishing reciprocal relationships with peers and adults (Fleury et al., 2015). However, there has been no attempt to systematically aggregate findings across positive support intervention studies to determine their overall effectiveness. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to synthesize the literature to determine the effectiveness of positive support interventions for decreasing maladaptive behavior and improving social-emotional outcomes in children with ASD.

This review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review standards (Liberati et al., 2009). To identify appropriate studies for inclusion, a search was conducted using three electronic databases: Academic Search Premier, Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC), and APA PsychInfo. We searched for the following terms: (positive behavior support OR positive intervention OR pbis OR positive reinforcement OR pbs) AND (autism OR asd OR autism spectrum disorder) AND (maladaptive behavior OR problem behavior OR challenging behavior) AND (early childhood OR preschool OR early learning OR young children). There were no date restrictions. To be included in this review, articles needed to meet the following criteria: 1) include participants aged 2-6 years diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, 2) include measures of maladaptive behavior, 3) include a positive intervention or support, 4) use a single-case research design, and 5) be written in English. The initial search results presented with 153 total findings from all databases, with 29 duplicates, giving a total of 124. Articles were excluded if participants were only identified with a broad classification of developmental or intellectual disability. Additionally, while the search was not restricted by specific behaviors, studies were excluded that focused solely on eating or toileting behaviors, as these do not present as problematic in the classroom and are often not targets of school based positive interventions. As such, after screening the articles based on the inclusion criteria determined, nine articles remained and were therefore included in this review.

The nine included articles are currently being coded to determine participant description and selection, intervention used, measurement of outcomes, baseline and intervention condition data analysis, social validity, fidelity, and functional relationship. After coding, the results will be synthesized. We hypothesize that positive support interventions will be effective at reducing maladaptive behaviors and, in turn, improve social-emotional aspects of school readiness for children with ASD. The results will have important implications for treatment of maladaptive behaviors for young children with ASD in early childhood education settings.

Authors

• Kendall Willems-Cygan, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
  Presenting Author

• Susan Loveall-Hague, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
  Non-Presenting Author

• J. Marc Goodrich, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
  Non-Presenting Author