Autism Spectrum Disorder is a developmental disorder highly prevalent in the world
population. Behavior-Analytic Intervention to autism is being pointed internationally as one
of the most effective ways of intervention, provided that it is individualized, intensive, early,
and extensive. Under such conditions, although highly effective, Behavior-Analytic
Intervention is inaccessible to most of the affected population in Brazil. Having said that,
intervention via caretakers may result as an efficient and viable alternative. Nevertheless,
research on the efficacy of such ways of indirect intervention are rare, particularly in Brazil.
The purpose of the present work was to develop an intervention program via caretakers and
evaluate its efficacy to teach basic skills (“sit down”, “wait”, “greeting”, “attend when called
by name”, “visual tracking”, “imitation with and without objects”). Six children diagnosed
with ASD (with ages up to six years old) participated together with their respective
caretakers. The caretakers were given conceptual and practical teaching and were supervised
one a week. The teaching programs were carried out mainly by discrete trial. The results show
efficacy of the intervention via caretakers, with the teaching programs being well succeeded
to develop the above mentioned basic repertoires. Also, this research documented
maintenance and generality of the taught repertoire. Additionally, the present dissertation
includes other two components that are reports of basic research on the acquisition of tacts
and mands, carried out in the context of the caretaker-based intervention program reported in
the first component. The viability of such subsequent studies shows that a well-designed
environment to deliver behavior-analytic services is also adequate to the development of basic
research on procedural variables implied in the acquisition of specific repertoires.
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