Children with ASD often have difficulty engaging in appropriate social interactions and demonstrating task-oriented behaviors, especially in gross motor activity settings. One practice that has been used to enhance appropriate task-oriented behaviors of children with ASD is music. Previous studies, however, have used music only (without teacher instruction) to enhance task-oriented behaviors. It is commonly known that instructions such as modeling and verbal prompting are typically used by educators to enhance learning in gross motor settings. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine if music coupled with instruction (MCI) was more effective than music only (MO) for increasing task-oriented behaviors of children with ASD.
Method:
Behaviorism served as the theoretical framework and a multiple baseline across participants design was used. The design was chosen to ensure that each participant received treatment independently and changes in behaviors occurred as a result of phase changes. MO consisted of participants listening to music, which included lyrics that instructed participants to perform gross motor movements. MCI consisted of participants listening to the same music (as MO) with the addition of modeling and verbal prompting of an instructor. Baseline data were collected prior to intervention. Intervention included alternating MO and MCI (Phase A - MO, MCI; Phase B - MO, MCI). Selected sections of the ALT-PE, a validated tool, were used to assess behavior frequency. Following IRB approval parental consent was obtained. Five participants (3 males, 2 females; ages 6-11) received 10-15 minute gross motor activity sessions, four days a week for 9-12 weeks. All sessions were videotaped and conducted by a certified instructor. Treatment fidelity and inter-observer agreement were established (97% & 91%, respectively) for 25% of all sessions.
Analysis/Results:
All participants increased task-oriented behaviors for MCI when compared to MO. Participants 1-5 demonstrated increases of 6.5% (1% MO, 7% MCI), 28% (2% MO, 30% MCI), 29% (0% MO, 29% MCI), 8% (0% MO, 8% MCI), and 33% (1% MO, 33% MCI), respectively. Four participants were able to maintain similar levels of task-oriented behaviors two weeks following intervention (participant 1 - 12%, participant 2 - 30%, participant 3 - 26%, & participant 4 - 11%). Participant 5 did not participate in maintenance.
Conclusions:
The results of this study suggest that MCI can enhance task-oriented behaviors during gross motor settings to a greater extent than MO. Results have implications relative to enhancing educational outcomes for children with ASD.