Using Music-Based Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions to Increase Delay Tolerance for Young Children

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often engage in challenging behavior when faced with situations that require delay tolerance. While applied behavior analysis-based strategies have strong support for teaching delay tolerance (waiting skills), research exploring naturalistic interventions to teach this skill preemptively is limited. This study examined the effectiveness of Music-Based Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Intervention (MB-NDBI) to teach waiting for preferred items in preschool-aged children with autism. Results showed a functional relation in which MB-NDBI decreased challenging behavior during delays. Descriptively, levels of challenging behavior during probes in generalization settings were similar to those during intervention probes. Findings suggest that integrating music into a behavioral intervention framework is a promising, contextually relevant strategy for developing delay tolerance in young children with autism.