Association for Behavior Analysis International

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39th Annual Convention; Minneapolis, MN; 2013

Event Details


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Symposium #139
CE Offered: BACB
Promoting Spontaneous, Variable, and Social-Mediated Tacting and Intraverbal Behavior With Children Diagnosed With Autism
Sunday, May 26, 2013
9:00 AM–10:20 AM
200 H-I (Convention Center)
Area: VBC/AUT; Domain: Applied Research
Chair: M. Alice Shillingsburg (Marcus Autism Center)
Discussant: Anna I. Petursdottir (Texas Christian University)
CE Instructor: M. Alice Shillingsburg, Ph.D.
Abstract:

Behavioral interventions for children with severe language deficits often incorporate teaching basic skills under contrived conditions and progress to developing spontaneous complex language that is socially-directed and maintained. Previous research has shown that applied behavior analytic procedures result in acquisition of tact and intraverbal skills in children with language delays. However, many procedures promote acquisition of these behaviors in the context of a specific discriminative stimulus (i.e., what is it?) and may result in inflexible responding. Procedures to enhance tact and intraverbal behavior under more naturalistic conditions that are socially-directed and enhance variability in responding are needed. This symposium will present data from three studies investigating procedures to promote tacts to initiate and reciprocate conversational exchanges and promote variability in intraverbal responding. Contreras and Betz utilized a lag schedule to evaluate variability in intraverbal responses and compared two methods to analyze the findings. Shippee, Shillingsburg, Kliebert, and Discalfani taught participants to emit novel tacts embedded in a vocal exchange and used naturally occurring activities to promote generalization. Perry, Kelley, and Peterson employed an intervention to increase spontaneous tacting to initiate a conversational exchange and assessed for generalization. Results are discussed in terms of promoting spontaneity and variability of verbal behavior.

 

Teaching Children With Autism to Initiate Conversation Through Tact Training

TAMARA L. PERRY (University of Nebraska Medical Center, Munroe-Meyer Institute), Michael E. Kelley (Florida Institute of Technology and The Scott Center for Autism Treatment), Sean Peterson (University of Nebraska Medical Center, Munroe-Meyer Institute)
Abstract:

Tacting is prerequisite for beginning conversational skills in young children. Though tacting programs are a common feature of early intervention programs for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), most programming does not target socially-directed tact behavior. Therefore, we evaluated an intervention to increase spontaneous tacting in preschoolers with ASD who emitted impure tacts (i.e., following the discriminative stimulus, "What is it?" or if a therapist held up an item), but did not do so when in less contrived conditions. Treatment consisted of teaching participants to share an item with an adult while simultaneously labeling it using a progressive prompt-delay. Generalization probes were then conducted, in which untrained, known items were available within a naturalistic setting. Results indicated that all participants were successfully taught to initiate conversation with others with six objects; however, one participant required specific training for each object and generalization did not occur. In contrast, another participant mastered all objects during generalization probes after teaching was conducted with one item only and these gains were effectively generalized to another classroom setting with novel targets.

 

Teaching Novel Conversational Tacts

DIANNA M. SHIPPEE (Marcus Autism Center), M. Alice Shillingsburg (Marcus Autism Center), Megan Kliebert (Marcus Autism Center), Justin DiScalfani (The ELIJA School)
Abstract:

Tacts embedded in natural reciprocal conversation, as opposed to tacts following a specific vocal discriminative stimulus (e.g., when directly asked what is it?) may have added benefit in establishing complex conversational skills in individuals with language delays. One potential way to establish conversational tacting is embedding instruction within a vocal exchange. In this study, two children diagnosed with autism were taught to engage in tacts embedded in a vocal exchange during common activities (e.g., reading a book, looking through a toy box). The therapist initiated the exchange by tacting an item present (e.g., I see a fish!). A conversational tact was scored if the participant then tacted a different item present (e.g., I see a frog!). Treatment in the form of prompt fading was implemented at the teaching table first using an array of pictures. Following mastery for both participants, probes for generalization were conducted in novel settings. Generalized responding was seen in one participant to a novel activity in 2 different settings. Generalized responding in the second participant was seen in one novel activity but not another. Treatment was implemented during a variety of naturally occurring activities to promote generalized responding for the second participant.

 

Evaluation of the Levels of Variable Verbal Responding Produced by Lag Schedules When Implemented With Children With Autism

BETHANY P. CONTRERAS YOUNG (Florida Institute of Technology), Alison M. Betz (Florida Institute of Technology)
Abstract:

Within the past few decades, researchers have shown that variability is a dimension of behavior that can be directly reinforced. In other words, variability itself is an operant (Page & Neuringer, 1985). Additionally, Neuringer (2002, 2004) stated that the term variability may refer to a continuum from stereotypic to stochastic. One method of directly reinforcing variability within this continuum is the use of lag schedules of reinforcement, in which a response is only reinforced if it differs from a specified number of responses. The purpose of the current study was to more precisely evaluate the level of response variability produced by lag schedules by measuring both responses varied and number of different responses emitted per session. An additional purpose of this study was to evaluate the extent to which analyzing both response measures alter the interpretation of result. Results showed that lag schedules of reinforcement were effective at increasing response variability for 2 out of 3 participants, and were effective for the third participant following variability training. Evaluating both response measures allowed the researchers to identify different levels of variability within and across the participants and also allowed the researchers to make appropriate treatment decisions.

 

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