USING PEER-MEDIATED SELF-MONITORING TO INCREASE PROCEDURAL INTEGRITY OF NET IMPLEMENTATION IN A CLINIC SETTING

Behavioral interventions have been shown to be effective at addressing many of the core skill deficits and excesses associated with autism spectrum disorder. Natural Environment Training (NET), developed by Sundberg and Partington (1998), is one such effective strategy for teaching language to children with autism. Even though effective interventions have been identified, clients are unlikely to benefit from them unless they are implemented correctly. A number of effective behavioral techniques for increasing procedural integrity of interventions have been identified, including the use of self-monitoring checklists and peer-training. An unpublished thesis by Tenowich (2014) used video-self monitoring to increase procedural integrity on NET implementation. This study aimed to replicate the study by Tenowich (2014) and extend the literature by incorporating a peer-teaching component to the performance management package. Results showed that all participants increased their level of performance. However, these increases happened during different phases of the study for each participant, suggesting that individuals respond differently to giving and receiving feedback. Future research should implement this procedure with more participants to determine the functional components of this training package and any possible sequencing effects with regards to giving and receiving feedback.