title: The effects of graduated exposure, modeling, and contingent social attention on tolerance to skin care products with two children with autism.
abstract: Children with autism may display unusual or fearful responses to common stimuli, such as skin care products. Parents of children with autism have often reported that their children will not allow the application of these types of substances to their skin and if the parent persists, the children become extremely upset and anxious. Such responding can interfere with adaptive functioning. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a treatment package involving graduated exposure to steps in an avoidance hierarchy, modeling, and social attention on the responding of two children with autism who displayed fearful responses to skin care products. Both avoidance and acceptance responses to skin care products were measured. Both changing criteria and multiple baseline experimental designs were employed to assess the effects of the intervention package. The results suggest that the package was successful in teaching tolerance of skin products for both children.
authors.affiliation: New England Center for Children, Inc., USA.
authors.forename: Ellyn M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Ellis
authors.forename: Shahla S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Ala'i-Rosales
authors.forename: Sigrid S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Glenn
authors.forename: Jesús
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rosales-Ruiz
authors.forename: Joel
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Greenspoon
mesh_terms: D000287:Administration, Topical; D001007:Anxiety; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003879:Dermatologic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D003887:Desensitization, Psychologic / Q000379:methods; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D017592:Skin Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology; D014743:Videotape Recording
chemical_list: D003879:Dermatologic Agents