Teaching children with autism spectrum disorder to tact olfactory stimuli

Research on tact acquisition by children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has often focused on teaching participants to tact visual stimuli. It is important to evaluate procedures for teaching tacts of nonvisual stimuli (e.g., olfactory, tactile). The purpose of the current study was to extend the literature on secondary target instruction and tact training by evaluating the effects of a discrete‐trial instruction procedure involving (a) echoic prompts, a constant prompt delay, and error correction for primary targets; (b) inclusion of secondary target stimuli in the consequent portion of learning trials; and (c) multiple exemplar training on the acquisition of item tacts of olfactory stimuli, emergence of category tacts of olfactory stimuli, generalization of category tacts, and emergence of category matching, with three children diagnosed with ASD. Results showed that all participants learned the item and category tacts following teaching, participants demonstrated generalization across category tacts, and category matching emerged for all participants.     

A parametric variation of delayed reinforcement in infants.

This study is an exploration of the parameters of delayed reinforcement with 6 infants (2 to 6 months old) in two experiments using single-subject repeated-reversal designs. In Experiment 1, unsignaled 3-s delayed reinforcement was used to increase infant vocalization rate when compared to a differential-reinforcement-of-other-than-vocalization condition and a yoked, no-contingency comparison condition. In Experiment 2, unsignaled 5-s delayed reinforcement was used to increase infant vocalization rate when compared to an alternating-treatments comparison condition. The alternating-treatments comparison consisted of 3-min components of differential reinforcement of other behavior and 3-min components of a nontreatment baseline. Successful conditioning was obtained in both experiments. These results contrast with those of previous infancy researchers who did not obtained conditioning with delays of 3 s and who attributed their findings to the limitations of the infant's memory capacity. We present an alternative conceptual framework and methodology for the analysis of delayed reinforcement in infants.     

STIMULUS GENERALIZATION AND EQUIVALENCE CLASSES: A MODEL FOR NATURAL CATEGORIES

Two three-member classes were formed by training AB and BC using a conditional discrimination procedure. The A and B stimuli were nonsense syllables, and the C stimuli were sets of “short” or “long” lines. To test for equivalence, C1 or C2 was presented as a sample with A1 and A2 as comparisons. Once the class-related comparison was chosen consistently, different line lengths were substituted for the training lines in the CA tests. In general, the likelihood of choosing a given comparison was an inverse function of the difference in the length of the test line from the training line. Stimuli in an equivalence class became functionally related not only to each other but also to novel stimuli that resembled a member of the equivalence class. The combination of primary generalization and equivalence class formation, then, can serve as a model to account for the development of naturally occurring categories.     

Validity of the Woodcock-Johnson tests of achievement for learning-disabled students

Two independent samples of 40 and 32 elementary-aged, learning-disabled (LD) pupils were administered the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement (WJTA), the Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT), and the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT) following seven instructional months in an LD self-contained class. Concurrent validity coefficients between W-J achievement clusters and corresponding WRAT and PIAT subtests ranged between .64 and .93. Results from both samples were convergent, thus allowing corroboration of findings. Discrepancies among WJTA, WRAT, and PIAT grade equivalents and standard scores are discussed, as are possible limitations of the WJTA for use with learning disabled pupils.     

The effect of repeated testing on judgement bias in domestic dogs (Canis familiaris)

Animal Cognition - Judgement bias paradigms are increasingly being used as a measure of affective state in dogs. Approach to an ambiguous stimulus is commonly used as a measure of affect, however,...     

Evaluating backward chaining methods on vocational tasks by adults with developmental disabilities

Backward chains are widely used to teach complex skills to individuals with developmental disabilities. Implementation of chaining procedures may vary regarding untaught steps and there is little to guide practitioners in the selection of chaining procedures. Moreover, there is a dearth of research evaluating effectiveness and efficiency of procedural variations of behavior chains. The purpose of this study was to extend previous research by evaluating the effectiveness, efficiency, and preference for four procedural variations (i.e., teacher‐completion, participant‐completion, no‐completion, and a control condition) of backward chains across vocational tasks with adults with developmental disabilities. Although procedural variations effectively established vocational skills, the participant‐completion procedure (in which the instructor implemented a least‐to‐most prompt hierarchy during all untrained steps in the chain) was the most efficacious backward chaining procedural variation and efficient in terms of sessions to mastery. The no‐completion procedure (in which the instructor completed all untrained steps in the chain out of view of the participant) was least efficient across trials, sessions, errors, and total duration to mastery. One participant preferred the no‐completion condition while the other two participants showed an initial preference for the teacher‐completion condition that changed to preference for the no‐completion condition. Vocational skills maintained 1‐ and 4‐weeks postmastery. Stakeholders rated goals, procedures, and outcomes as socially valid.     

Frontal lobe functioning in adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

A prominent hypothesis regarding the etiology of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is that its presence and magnitude reflect frontal lobe dysfunction. Past tests of this hypothesis have been inconsistent. The present study examined frontal lobe functioning in adolescents with ADHD. A sample of 10 ADHD adolescents and 10 controls between the ages of 12 and 17 served as participants for the study. The control group was matched on age (within six months) and gender. This study aided in clarifying past contradictory studies by using clearly defined criteria to determine ADHD, a representative age range of participants, carefully selected tests, and a control task. The two measures that were administered to assess frontal lobe functioning were the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and the Stroop Color and Word Test. The Purdue Pegboard was used as a control measure that did not assess frontal lobe functioning. The findings indicate that the ADHD group performed significantly worse on the following: color score, color/word score, and interference score of the Stroop Color and Word Test; percent of perseverative responses, percent of perseverative errors, and number of completed categories of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. No differences were found on the Purdue Pegboard task.     

Establishing a generalized repertoire of helping behavior in children with autism

The present study used a multiple baseline across participants design to assess whether 4 children with autism could learn a generalized repertoire of helping adults with different tasks through the use of a multicomponent teaching package. Different helping responses were taught in the presence of multiple exemplars of discriminative stimuli drawn from experimenter-defined categories of helping behavior (e.g., locating objects, putting away items, setting up an activity). During the training condition, video models, prompting, and reinforcement were used. The results showed that all 4 children learned to emit appropriate helping responses in the presence of discriminative stimuli from the helping categories used during training. Generalization of helping responses was observed in the presence of untrained discriminative stimuli during additional probe conditions. Additional pre- and postintervention generalization trials showed that the frequency of helping responses also increased in the presence of novel stimuli, in a novel setting, and with a novel instructor.     

A DISCRIMINATION TRAINING PROCEDURE TO ESTABLISH CONDITIONED REINFORCERS FOR CHILDREN WITH AUTISM

Although conditioned reinforcers are used in many behavioral intervention programs for individuals with developmental disabilities, little research has been conducted to determine optimal methods for establishing conditioned reinforcers. An early method that has received relatively little research attention is to condition a neutral stimulus as a discriminative stimulus and then use the stimulus as a programed consequence during skill acquisition. The current study evaluated the effects of a discrimination training procedure on establishing conditioned reinforcers for three children with autism. For all participants, previously neutral stimuli reinforced behaviors after acquiring discriminative properties during discrimination training. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.