ABSTRACT
Studies on teaching tacts to individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have primarily focused on visual stimuli, despite published clinical recommendations to teach tacts of stimuli in other sensory domains as well. In the current study, two children with ASD were taught to tact auditory stimuli under two stimulus-presentation arrangements: isolated (auditory stimuli presented without visual cues) and compound (auditory stimuli presented with visual cues). Results indicate that compound stimulus presentation was a more effective teaching procedure, but that it interfered with prior object-name tacts. A modified compound arrangement in which object-name tact trials were interspersed with auditory-stimulus trials mitigated this interference.
Subject(s)
Autism Spectrum Disorder/therapy , Language Therapy/methods , Teaching , Acoustic Stimulation , Child, Preschool , Cues , Female , Humans , Photic StimulationABSTRACT
Descriptive praise has been recommended widely as an important teaching tactic for children with autism, despite the absence of published supporting evidence. We compared the effects of descriptive and general praise on the acquisition and maintenance of intraverbal skills with 2 children with autism. The results showed slight advantages of descriptive praise in teaching efficiency in the majority of comparisons; however, these effects dissipated over time.
Subject(s)
Autistic Disorder , Reinforcement, Psychology , Teaching , Verbal Behavior/physiology , Autistic Disorder/physiopathology , Autistic Disorder/psychology , Autistic Disorder/rehabilitation , Child, Preschool , Education of Intellectually Disabled , Generalization, Psychological , Humans , MaleABSTRACT
We taught 2 children with visual impairments to select a coin from an array using tactile cues after hearing its name and then to select a coin after hearing its value. Following the acquisition of these listener (receptive language) skills, we then observed the emergence of speaker (expressive language) skills without direct instruction.
Subject(s)
Discrimination, Psychological/physiology , Learning/physiology , Numismatics , Teaching/methods , Vision Disorders/rehabilitation , Child , Cues , Female , Humans , Male , Vision Disorders/etiologyABSTRACT
Discrete trial teaching (DTT) procedures have proven effective in teaching language to children with autism. Discrete trial teaching uses a highly structured, fast-paced format of instruction that is typically conducted in a one-to-one situation at a desk or table with minimal distractions. We compared this traditional model of DTT to a version of DTT in which instruction was embedded within the context of a more naturalistic, activity-based environment. However, all of the other characteristics of DTT (e.g., pacing, tight stimulus control, targets selected by the teacher) were retained. Receptive discriminations were taught to 2 4-year-old boys, diagnosed with autism in traditional or embedded DTT. Results showed that for both boys, traditional and embedded DTT were equally effective and efficient. Additionally, measures were collected on participant affect and a concurrent-chains preference evaluation was used to determine which teaching procedure was preferred by the participants. The two procedures produced similar levels of positive and negative affect and were equally preferred by 1 participant while embedded DTT produced more positive affect and was more preferred by the other.
