| This study examined the effectiveness of a Verbal Query Intervention (VQI) procedure in decreasing motor and vocal stereotypy in four elementary students with autism. The VQI procedure involved the presentation of behavior-related questions that the students were required to respond to in an appropriate fashion. An ABC multiple-baseline across subjects experimental design was used to examine whether the VQI procedure, when combined with behavioral intervention strategies, lead to an incremental decrease in stereotypy. Results did demonstrate an incremental decrease for three of the four participants in the study. Two participants demonstrated a further decrease in stereotypy of 21% and higher. One participant demonstrated an additional 13% decrease, while the other demonstrated a 1% decrease. The primary investigator puts forth a cognitive/linguistic model of operations to explain the effectiveness of the VQI procedure. Implications for future studies are discussed, as well as the practical utility of this procedure within the classroom setting. |
