Designing and evaluating assessment-based interventions to reduce stereotypy among adults with autism in a community job.

We designed and evaluated assessment-based interventions to reduce stereotypy among three adults with severe autism in a community job setting. An initial descriptive assessment, conducted during the regular work routine in the employing company, indicated that stereotypy occurred while the supported workers were waiting for work assignments or when they stopped working on an assigned task. An on-the-job functional analysis was then conducted; the results showed that the stereotypy of each worker was not maintained by socially-mediated consequences. Individualized interventions were then designed for increasing work behavior to compete with stereotypy by restructuring the job routine to reduce wait time and/or prompting and praising work behavior more frequently. The interventions increased work behavior and were accompanied by decreased stereotypy for each worker. Guidelines for practitioners and future research directions are offered, focusing on the use of assessment-based interventions for reducing stereotypy within community jobs.