The strategies in the Skills® curriculum are grounded on over 40 years of research on the use of
ABA-based procedures for teaching skills to individuals with autism. The Skills® assessment has been shown to have excellent validity (Persicke
et al., 2014) and the language subscale to have excellent reliability (Dixon, Tarbox, Najdowski, Wilke, & Granpeesheh, 2011). The BIP Builder has been shown to increase the use of function-based treatment
components (Tarbox, Najdowski, & Bergstrom, 2013). Several studies have been published based on procedures from Skills® lessons.
Validity of Skills® Assessment
Persicke, A., Bishop, M. R., Coffman, C. M., Najdowski, A. C., Tarbox, J., Chi, K., Dixon, D. R., Granpeesheh, D., Adams, A. N., Jang, J., Ranick, J., St. Clair, M., Kenzer, A. L., Sharaf, S. S., &
Deering, A. (2014). Evaluation of the concurrent validity of a Skills® assessment for autism treatment.
Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 8, 281-285.
Reliability of Language Subscale of SKILLS® Assessment
Dixon, D. R., Tarbox, J., Najdowski, A. C., Wilke, A. E., & Granpeesheh, D. (2011). A comprehensive evaluation of language for early behavioral intervention programs: The reliability of the SKILLS
language index. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 5, 506-511.
Evaluation of the SKILLS® BIP Builder
Tarbox, J., Najdowski, A. C., Bergstrom, R., Wilke, A., Bishop, M., Kenzer, A., & Dixon, D. (2013). Randomized evaluation of a web-based tool for designing function-based behavioral intervention plans.
Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 7(12), 1509-1517.
Adapted from SKILLS® Working Memory lesson:
Baltruschat, L., Hasselhorn, M., Tarbox, J., Dixon, D. R., Najdowski, A., Mullins, R. D., & Gould, E.R. (2012). The effects of multiple exemplar training on a working memory task involving sequential
responding in children with autism.
The Psychological Record, 62, 549-562.
Adapted from SKILLS® Safety Awareness lesson:
Bergstrom, R., Najdowski, A.C., & Tarbox, J. (2012). Teaching children with autism to seek help when lost in public.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 45, 191-195.
Adapted from SKILLS® Sensory Perspective Taking lesson:
Gould, E., Tarbox, J., O'Hora, D., Noone, S., & Bergstrom, R. (2011). Teaching children with autism a basic component skill of perspective-taking.
Behavioral Interventions, 26, 50-66.
Adapted from SKILLS® Disengagement lesson:
Persicke, A., St Clair, M., Tarbox, J., Najdowski, A., Ranick, J., Yu, Y., & de Nocker, Y. L. (2013). Teaching children with autism to attend to socially relevant stimuli.
Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 7(12), 1551-1557.
Adapted from SKILLS® Detecting Sarcasm lesson:
Persicke, A., Tarbox, J., Ranick, J., & St. Clair, M. (2013). Teaching children with autism to detect and respond to sarcasm.
Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 7, 193-198.
Adapted from SKILLS® Deception lesson:
Ranick, J., Persicke, A., Tarbox, J., & Kornack, J.A. (2013). Teaching children with autism to detect and respond to deceptive statements.
Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 7, 503-508.
Adapted from SKILLS® Following Rules lesson:
Tarbox, J., Zuckerman, C. K., Bishop, M. R., Olive, M. L., & O'Hora, D. P. (2011). Rule-governed behavior: Teaching a preliminary repertoire of rule-following to children with autism.
The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 27, 125-139.
Baer, D., Wolf, M., & Risley, R. (1968). Some current dimensions of applied behavior analysis.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1, 91-97.
Baer, D., Wolf, M., & Risley, R. (1987). Some still-current dimensions of applied behavior analysis.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 20, 313-327.
Myers, S. M., & Plauché Johnson, C. (2007). Management of children with autism spectrum disorders.
Pediatrics, 120, 1162-1182.
National Research Council (2001). Educating Children with Autism. Committee on Educational Interventions for Children with Autism. Catherine Lord and James P. McGee, eds. Division of Behavioral and Social
Sciences and Education.
Washington DC: National Academy Press.
New York State Department of Health, Early Intervention Program (1999).
Clinical Practice Guideline: Report of the Recommendations: Autism / Pervasive Developmental Disorders: Assessment and Intervention for Young Children
(Age 0-3 years).
Sulzer-Azaroff, B. & Mayer, R. (1991). Behavior analysis for lasting change. Fort Worth, TX: Holt, Reinhart & Winston, Inc.
US Department of Health and Human Services (1999). Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health.
Vismara, L.S. & Rogers, S. J. (2010). Behavioral treatments in autism spectrum disorders:
What do we know?
Annual Review of Clinical Psychology 6, 447-68.
