Autistic disorder is characterized by abnormal social and language development and repetitive behavior. People with autism are often aggressive towards themselves and others, and are often averse to change. Autism is incurable, but behavioral modification can ease the life of an autistic patient. According to behavioral theory, any behavior can be shaped through reward and punishment. By providing rewards, a parent or a teacher can increase the kind of behavior that he wants to see in an autistic child. Similarly, punishments can decrease unwanted behavior.
Forced Communication
An autistic patient does not usually like to communicate with other people. He seldom looks people in the eye, and enjoys spending time by himself. Thus, one of the most important goals of behavioral treatment should be to increase social communication. This includes rewarding such behavior as the use of language as a communication method and encouraging the patient to look other people in the eye. In the beginning, all such behaviors should be rewarded. When the patient learns that certain behavior is rewarded and increases this kind of behavior, the rewards should become less frequent. The goal is that, in the end, the behavior itself is rewarding and the external rewards are no longer needed. Food is a frequently used as a reward in the beginning. Candy, juice and other pleasant-tasting foods are good examples of these types of rewards. Later, other rewards should be used. A patient should also be forced to communicate by allowing him to get food or other rewards only if he asks for them. In the beginning, the use of gestures as a social communication method might be accepted, but after some time, only the use of language should be accepted.
Decreasing Antisocial Behavior
Autistic people can be aggressive towards themselves or others when they are frustrated, depressed or angry. Such behavior might include biting other people or banging their head against the wall. These behaviors should be decreased with the use of punishment. For example, every time a patient bites other people, something that she finds pleasant, such as a favorite toy, should be removed from her. Behavior modification should ideally work to diminish both the frequency and intensity of negative behavior in these patients.
Learning Life-management Skills
A child with autism is typically overwhelmed when faced with such complicated tasks as getting dressed or taking a shower. Behavioral modification therapy tackles such tasks by breaking them into small, easily manageable parts. For example, a child is first taught how to turn the shower on. Once the child has learned this through rewards and punishments, the caretaker teaches him how to use soap. The end result of this type of organization of tasks should be that autistic patients learn how to perform tasks they dislike independently and without problems.
