Facilitating Neurofeedback in Children with Autism and Intellectual Impairments Using TAGteach

Abstract

Individuals with autism and intellectual impairments tend to be excluded from research due to their difficulties with methodological compliance. This study focuses on using Teaching with Acoustic Guidance-TAGteach-to behaviorally prepare children with autism and a IQ ≤ 80 to participate in a study on neurofeedback training (NFT). Seven children (ages 6-8) learned the prerequisite skills identified in a task analysis in an average of 5 h of TAGteach training, indicating that this is a feasible method of preparing intellectually-impaired children with autism to participate in NFT and task-dependent electroencephalography measures. TAGteach may thus have the potential to augment this population's ability to participate in less accessible treatments and behavioral neuroscientific studies.

Keywords: Auditory secondary reinforcement; Autism; Conditioned reinforcement; Intellectual impairment; Low-functioning; Mirror neurons; Mu rhythms; Neurofeedback; TAGteach.