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#411 International Poster Session 5/25/2009 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. North Hall A AUT 1. Using TAG Teach Methods to Develop Eye Contact Behavior in Children with Autism. (Applied Behavior Analysis) REGINA L. MAENDLER (The Chicago School of Professional Psychology), John W Eshleman (The Chicago School of Professional Psychology), Traci M. Cihon (The Chicago School of Professional Psychology) Abstract: Many children diagnosed with autism demonstrate limited eye contact behavior with others. Eye contact can be an important prerequisite for the development of other behavioral repertoires including mands, imitation, and social interaction. Because the eye contact movement cycle can be quite brief, it is not always possible to provide immediate reinforcement and often one may inadvertently reinforce another behavior (e.g. looking away). The purpose of this study was to increase eye contact behavior in children diagnosed with autism using two reinforcement methods; contingent positive reinforcement and Teaching by Acoustical Guidance (TAG). During the first treatment condition, descriptive praise statements as well as access to preferred items and activities were made contingent upon occurrences of eye contact behavior. During the second treatment condition, occurrences of eye contact behavior were immediately tagged with an acoustical marker and directly followed by access to a backup reinforcer in the form of descriptive praise statements as well as access to preferred items and activities. Treatment conditions were presented during randomly alternating sessions through a multielement design. Differences in responding between conditions were attributed to the effectiveness of each treatment variable as an intervention for developing eye contact behavior among children with autism. KEY WORDS: TAG teach, conditional reinforcement, contingent reinforcement, immediacy of reinforcement, eye contact, autism, children, multielement design 2. Comparing the Effectiveness of Mobile and Immobile Floors for Teaching Fine Motor Skills. (Applied Behavior Analysis) NICOLE ANN CISSELL (The Chicago School of Professional Psych.), John W Eshleman (The Chicago School of Professional Psychology), Traci M. Cihon (The Chicago School of Professional Psychology) Abstract: Ogden Lindsley (1963) was one of the first behavior analysts to define the need for fluency. Deleted: Abstract:¶ Fluency is necessary to achieve automaticity and permanency in responding (Binder, Haughton, & Eyk, 1990) and has been defined as accuracy plus speed (Binder, 1996). Precision teachers use the tools of fluency and the Standard Celeration Chart (SCC) in order to improve learning and track changes in behavior. The SCC is a semi-logarithmic chart in which changes in learning may be observed. The chart utilizes many symbols in order to denote the frequency of behaviors, the length of fluency timings, and celeration as a function of time. This paper reports the results of a study aimed as evaluating the efficacy of mobile versus immobile floors for teaching fine motor skills to children that have been diagnosed with autism. The study was conducted using Big 6+6 programming in order to teach the component fine motor skills. 3. The Effects Discrete Trial Training on the Acquisition of Social Skills by Children with Autism. (Applied Behavior Analysis) CHERIE ANN FISHBAUGH (SPARC), Corinne M. Murphy (West Chester University), Jennifer E. Dawson (SPARC), Phillip K. Duncan (West Chester University) Abstract: Children with autism experience difficulty in acquiring and generalizing appropriate social skills such as looking at speaker/listener, initiating a conversation, sustaining a conversation, requesting an item, sharing, and playing cooperatively with others. Research shows that exposure to typically developing peers is not enough to acquire social skills and that such skills need to be systematically taught and then generalized to peers. Research is needed to identify effective teaching protocols for social skill development by children with autism. Five students, ages 3-5 years participated in a discrete trial training protocol targeting social skill development. All training took place in small group settings ranging from 3 to 5 participants. Social skills were assessed for each participant before, during, and after training. The results for all participants showed increases compared to baseline levels for all social skills measured when discrete trial was used as the intervention. Generalization and maintenance data will be provided. 4. Teaching Reading and Reading Comprehension Using a Stimulus Equivalence Paradigm: A Case Study in an IBI Classroom. (EDC; Applied Behavior Analysis) ROSEMARY A. CONDILLAC (Brock University), Lisa Danielle Giewercer (Surrey Place Centre and Brock University), Leanne Small (Surrey Place Centre) Abstract: This poster will present a stimulus equivalence paradigm that was used in an effort to teach reading and reading comprehension to a young boy with Autism, who had not responded to conventional phonetic or whole word approaches. The assessment and training was delivered by instructor therapists in his Intensive Behavioural Intervention (IBI) program. Baseline assessment indicated that for the chosen words, the boy was able to matching picture to dictated name, he could name the picture orally but was unable to name (read) written word, unable to match printed names to the dictated name, or match picture to written word. He was then taught to match the printed names to the dictated names, using standard matching to sample procedures. The results indicated that after teaching the boy to match dictated names to the printed names he was able to orally name the written words, match the pictures to the printed names, and match the printed names to the pictures without any additional teaching. This study provides preliminary evidence of field- effectiveness for the use of a stimulus equivalence paradigm in teaching reading comprehension to a young child with Autism within an IBI program. 5. The Role of Choice of Task Duration on Percent Success and Acquisition Rate. (Applied Behavior Analysis) RACHEL MARIE ADAMEK (Lovaas Institute Midwest), Melissa J. Gard (The Lovaas Institute Midwest), Courtney Whitcraft (Lovaas institute) Abstract: Being given a choice of tasks to complete, rather than being told by a caregiver or teacher which task to complete, can be a highly reinforcing for children diagnosed with autism but does not necessarily promote the highest levels of success or acquisition rate. In this study, we will investigate the effects of child’s choice on percent success and acquisition rate in three different previously mastered skill areas. Conditions include child choice and therapist choice with differing task durations and magnitudes of reinforcement. For example, in the child’s choice condition the child may choose between completing 5 pieces of a puzzle for 1 pretzel or completing the entire puzzle (20 pieces) for 5 pretzels. The goal of this study is to more closely examine the child’s preference of task duration and magnitude of reinforcement and how that relates to correct and incorrect responding. The results will lead us to a greater understanding of the child’s specific preferences, which can then be utilized to increase the child’s skill acquisition by adhering to the condition to which the child demonstrated the most success. 6. Effects of Training on Discrete Trial Teaching Knowledge and Performance. (EDC; Service Delivery) ANDREW DOWNS (University of Portland), Alex Siwiec (Central Washington University), Robyn Conley Downs (Children's Village), Cindy K. Carroll (Children's Village) Abstract: Parents of children with autism have increasingly demanded that their children be provided publicly funded Discrete Trial Teaching (DTT) based educational programming. Unfortunately, most school professionals receive no training in DTT in their undergraduate or graduate programs, making the training of such individuals critically important. This study evaluated the effects of training on instructor knowledge and performance of DTT and related skills. Nine undergraduate students received an eight-hour DTT training and taught a range of behaviors to six preschoolers with autism. Instructor knowledge was assessed pre- and post-training in the domains of work preparation, DTT technical procedures, and student engagement/management. Instructor performance was assessed in the same domains across several instructional sessions. Pre-training knowledge scores ranged from 4% to 57% and post-training knowledge scores ranged from 52% to 82% correct with instructors scoring highest on the domain of student engagement/management and lowest on work preparation. During DTT sessions with children with autism instructor performance ranged from 59% to 97% correct across domains, with the highest percentage of errors occurring in the domain of DTT technical procedures. The results highlight the need for training programs that effectively improve the knowledge and performance of professionals who provide DTT to children with autism. 7. Evaluation of a Self-Instructional Package for Instructing University Students to Conduct Discrete-Trials Teaching with Children with Autism. (EDC; Applied Behavior Analysis) SANDRA SALEM (University of Manitoba & St. Amant), Daniela Fazzio (University of Manitoba and St. Amant), Lindsay Maureen Arnal (University of Manitoba & St Amant Research Center), Pamela Jane Fregeau (St. Amant), Kendra Thomson (University fo Manitoba and St.