Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice

Advisor

Khrystyna Bednarchyk

Committee Member

Derek Mann

Committee Member

Kimberly Durham

Keywords

abduction prevention, behavioral skills training, in-situ training, parent-led training, safety skills, video modeling

Abstract

This applied dissertation was designed to review the efficacy of parents of children with autism as interventionists to prevent their children’s potential abduction. Oftentimes, abduction prevention strategies are not implemented due to time, staff, and resource constraints. While there have been effective interventions conducted, many did not address the unique needs of individuals with autism or the lack of qualified interventionists. The researcher implemented a behavioral skills training model based on the previously effective abduction prevention research and integrated the in-situ component with parents as primary interventionists.

The researcher conducted a behavior skills training, the instructional portion of which included information about the local crime and abduction rates, crime rates for those with disabilities, autism prevalence, and introduced parents to the four prerecorded video scenarios. The parent participants received a first-hand experience in the use of behavioral skills training that was later utilized for training of the participants’ children with autism. Relying on a single-subject nonconcurrent multiple baseline design across participants, the researcher implemented the study, during which the parent participants not only trained their children but also gathered data across baseline, intervention, and insitu probe phases. During the intervention phase, the child participants were instructed on the dangers of strangers and potential lures with the use of four video scenarios and through practice of the target responses of “no”, “stop”, and “go away”. The mastery criterion was set at four correct responses out of four opportunities across two nonconsecutive trials.

An analysis of the collected data revealed that parent participants are effective interventionists in teaching their children abduction prevention skills. All three child participants met the mastery criterion. Moreover, the results of a social validity survey indicated the parents’ support for the behavioral skills training model with an in-situ component.

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