The Effects of Preventive and Reinforcement Interventions Based on Visual and Auditory Supports on Mealtime Duration and Vomiting Frequency in an Adult with Autism Spectrum Disorder

This study aimed to examine the effects of preventive and reinforcement interventions, based on visual supports and self-auditory prompting, on the mealtime duration and the frequency of vomiting occurrences in an adult with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The participant was an adult with ASD enrolled in a vocational education program at a special school. An ABAB reversal design was used to investigate the functional relation between the independent and dependent variables. The results indicated that when preventive interventions, including visual supports such as a pie timer and ‘first-then’ picture cards, and self-auditory prompting were combined with reactive interventions utilizing differential reinforcement of high rates of behavior, the participant’s mealtime duration significantly increased in both intervention phases compared to the baseline phases, demonstrating a functional relation. Additionally, a correlation was found between the increase in mealtime duration and the decrease in the frequency of vomiting occurrences. This study is significant as it targeted an adult, a relatively less studied population in behavior intervention research, and selected mealtime habits and associated health-related symptoms as the intervention targets, rather than commonly studied dependent variables.