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Building Verbal Repertoirs and Higher Order |
Tuesday, May 30, 2006 |
10:30 AM–11:50 AM |
Singapore |
Area: DEV; Domain: Basic Research |
Chair: Jeanne Marie Speckman (Teachers College and The Fred S. Keller School) |
Abstract: There is increasing evidence that specific verbal repertoires may be lacking in students who do not make significant gains in the areas of communication, social and academic skills (Greer & Keohane, 2005.) Poor listening skills, underdeveloped vocabularies, poor reading and writing skills and the need for direct instruction to acquire new operants are widespread learning difficulties faced by children receiving special education as well as children in regular classrooms. We shall report on experiments that resulted in the acquisition of specific verbal “milestones”, and the effects of these new repertoires on other educationally significant skills. |
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The Effects of Listener Emersion Prerequisite Programs and Listener Emersion on Learn Units to Criterion. |
NIRVANA PISTOLJEVIC (Columbia University Teachers College), Lauren M. Stolfi (Columbia University Teachers College) |
Abstract: Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of the listener emersion pre-requisite programs on learn units to criterion across listener programs and effects of a listener emersion procedure on learn units to criterion across all academic programs. The participants were 3 preschoolers with disabilities who were at the pre- listener/ emergent speaker level of verbal behavior. A delayed multiple probe design across participants was used in both experiments. The dependent variable in Experiment 1 was the number of learn units to criterion for all listener programs. In Experiment I, three prerequisite programs (sit still- 10 seconds, eye contact-10 seconds and generalized imitation) were taught using learn units. The dependent variable for Experiment II was the number of learn units to criterion for all programs. In Experiment II, listener emersion was implemented. Students were first taught 7 sets of 5 different listener responses to mastery and than to a rate criterion. The results of Experiments 1 and 2 showed functional relations between the treatment procedures and decreases in learn units to criterion. |
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The World According to Tacts. |
JOANN PEREIRA DELGADO (Columbia University Teachers College), R. Douglas Greer (Columbia University Teachers College and Graduate School), Karla Weigand (Columbia University Teachers College) |
Abstract: We tested the effects of increasing the overall number of tacts presented daily for students on the total number of tacts and mands emitted throughout the day in the generalized setting using a multiple baseline design. The participants in this study were students ages 3-5 years of age diagnosed with developmental disabilities who emitted a low number of independent tacts and mands across settings (instructional time, transitions, lunch, and in the hallway) throughout the day. The dependent measure consisted of the total number of correct and incorrect mands and tacts across those settings. The results showed that following increasing tacts, the students’ overall tacts and mands increased. The results are discussed in terms of the importance of tacts and generalization variables in the development of a speaker repertoire. |
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Multiple Exemplar Instruction Using Bi-Sensory Teaching Procedures to Teach the Listener Portion of Naming. |
GINA MARIE FELICIANO (Shema Kolainu - Hear our Voices), R. Douglas Greer (Columbia University Teachers College and Graduate School) |
Abstract: The goal of this study was to test the effects of multiple exemplar instruction (MEI) in teaching the listener half of naming, described as joint stimulus control across listener and speaker responding using visual and auditory antecedents, with students with language disorders/delays including autism. The experimental design was a time-lagged multiple probe design. Results showed that multiple exemplar instruction was effective in teaching a listener response for three participants. There was some emergence of untaught responses for two participants suggesting the need for further investigation as to the emergence of untaught responses such as tacts and impure tacts. |
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The Effects of Writer Immersion and Reader/ Writer Learn Units on the Structure and Function of Writing of Students with Emotional Disabilities. |
TRACY REILLY-LAWSON (Columbia University Teachers College), R. Douglas Greer (Columbia University Teachers College and Graduate School), Jiwon Kang (Columbia University Teachers College) |
Abstract: This study examined the effectiveness of writer immersion and a teacher- editor providing reader/writer learn units on the writing behavior of students diagnosed with emotional disabilities. A delayed multiple baseline across three students, aged 14-15 years and diagnosed with emotional disabilities was implemented in Experiment 1. The dependent variables were the number of components drawn correctly by the reader, the number of sentences written, percent structurally correct, the number of autoclitics used, and the number of novel autoclitic frames. Experiment 2 was a replication of the first experiment with four students, aged 14-15 years, diagnosed with emotional disabilities. The same dependent variables were measured. The results of both experiments showed increases in these variables after the implementation of writer immersion. |
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