The Effects of Behavioral Relaxation Training on Academic Task Completion Among Students with Autism in Inclusive Classrooms: A Single-Subject Design Study

To help students with autism reach their potential, high-quality inclusive education emphasizes the importance of their full participation in school and classroom activities. Academic anxiety, however, can interfere with students' ability to follow instructions and, thereby, negatively affect their performance. We used a concurrent multiple-probe across tasks design within a single-subject research framework to coach students with autism in inclusive settings on relaxation behaviors to reduce their tension and increase their ability to complete tasks in Chinese literacy, mathematics, and English. Results indicated that behavioral relaxation training (BRT) produced positive effects on both behavioral and physiological outcomes and significantly improved academic task completion. Behavior changes stayed at a high level during the maintenance phase. In interviews, both caregivers and students reported positive attitudes toward the intervention, expressed strong acceptance of procedures, and confirmed that relaxation strategies facilitated assignment completion. Study limitations and implications for future research and practice are discussed.