The effects of presession pairing on the idiosyncratic mood indicators of young autistic children

Improving quality of life (QoL) is the goal of behavior analytic services, but there are barriers to assessing the QoL of autistic children due to characteristics inherent in this condition. As happiness is considered a fundamental element of QoL, researchers have conventionally relied on behavioral indicators of mood to evaluate the QoL of disabled individuals. However, the use of traditional indices (e.g., smiling, crying) may be contraindicated for autistic individuals because they are known to engage in idiosyncratic mood indicators. In Study 1, we examined a novel approach for identifying and validating the unique mood indicators of young autistic children. It was found that individualized indices of happiness and unhappiness could be operationally defined and reliably measured among these children. Using an abbreviated process in Study 2, we operationally defined the idiosyncratic mood indicators of three preschool children on the autism spectrum. Through a multiple baseline design, we will examine the effects of a pairing procedure on the indices of happiness and unhappiness of these children. We hypothesize that the children will be happier and more engaged during discrete trial training sessions that immediately follow presession pairing. This study is ongoing, and the results will be reported in our presentation.