An analysis of observational learning in autistic and normal children |
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Authors: | Dr. James W. Varni O. Ivar Lovaas Robert L. Koegel Nancy L. Everett |
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Affiliation: | (1) University of Southern California School of Medicine, USA;(2) Psychosocial Program, Division of Hematology-Oncology, Childrens Hospital, 4650 Sunset Boulevard, P. O. Box 54700, 90054 Los Angeles, California;(3) University of California, Los Angeles;(4) University of California, Santa Barbara |
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Abstract: | The present investigation studied observational learning in autistic children. Fifteen autistic and 15 normal children watched an adult model engage in a set of behaviors under specific verbal instructions. After observing this situation, the children were tested to determine what they had acquired through observation. The results showed that (1) the majority of the autistic and the youngest normal children acquired only some limited features of the observational situation and (2) chronological age was related to the amount of learning through observation in the normal children but not in the autistics. The deficit that the autistic children showed in observational learning may be related to a failure to discriminate or attend to the total stimulus input presented. Their failure in observational learning can be seen to contribute in a major way to the severely impoverished behavioral repertoires of these children. |
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