An evaluation of repeating the discriminative stimulus when using least-to-most prompting to teach intraverbal behavior to children with autism.

A common recommendation with least-to-most prompting is to repeat the discriminative stimulus (S(D) ) with each successive prompt (Cooper, Heron, & Heward, 2007). However, few studies have evaluated this recommendation. We compared repeating the S(D) to presenting the S(D) once when teaching intraverbal behavior to children with autism. Results showed that both methods produced acquisition, and repeating the S(D) produced no greater efficiency in acquisition.

A comparison of general and descriptive praise in teaching intraverbal behavior to children with autism.

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.

Teaching receptive discriminations to children with autism: a comparison of traditional and embedded discrete trial teaching.

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.