DOES A MUSIC-BASED NATURALISTIC DEVELOPMENTAL BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTION TARGETING DELAYS TO REINFORCEMENT REDUCE CHALLENGING BEHAVIOR FOR STUDENTS WITH ASD DURING DELAYS TO PREFERRED ITEMS?

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often engage in challenging behaviors when faced with situations that require a tolerance for delay (Hanley, 2014). While applied behavior analysis (ABA) based strategies have been widely researched to address tolerance for delay, research exploring naturalistic interventions to teach this skill has been limited. This study examined the effectiveness of Music Based- Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Intervention (MB-NDBI) to teach tolerance for delay to preferred items across the school day in preschool-aged individuals with ASD. Findings indicate that MB-NDBI increased waiting without challenging behavior and promoted the generalization of skills across settings. These results suggest integrating music into a behavioral intervention framework is a promising and contextually relevant strategy to develop waiting skills in young children with ASD.