The Effectiveness of Cool Versus Not Cool Procedure in Teaching Chemical Safety Skills to Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

This study examined the effectiveness of the Cool Versus Not Cool (CNC) procedure in teaching chemical safety skills to three preschool children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in terms of acquisition, maintenance, and generalization. One 6-year-old girl and two boys with ASD participated in the study that employed a multiple-probe design across participants. The findings demonstrated that the children with ASD acquired the target safety skills, improved their skills following the study, maintained the skills after one and 4 weeks after the intervention, and generalized them across different individuals. The social validity data, collected through subjective evaluation and a social comparison method, showed that the teachers of the children with ASD had positive opinions regarding the target skills, the CNC procedure, and the study outcomes. Additionally, the children with ASD outperformed their peers after the intervention. Furthermore, the findings indicated that the ecological validity of the CNC was high, particularly in terms of typical settings. Directions and implications for future research are discussed.