Elimination of Drooling by an Adolescent Student With Autism Attending Public High School

Abstract

We evaluated a multicomponent intervention that successfully eliminated drooling by a 17-year-old student with autism who attended a public high school. The student was taught to perform compensatory responses (wiping his mouth and swallowing saliva), received positive reinforcement for having a “dry mouth,” and was given opportunities to monitor his appearance. Implemented in a multiple-baseline design across three school locations, intervention was applied with high integrity and judged positively by staff.