Association for Behavior Analysis International

The Association for Behavior Analysis International® (ABAI) is a nonprofit membership organization with the mission to contribute to the well-being of society by developing, enhancing, and supporting the growth and vitality of the science of behavior analysis through research, education, and practice.

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35th Annual Convention; Phoenix, AZ; 2009

Event Details


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Symposium #17
A Focus on Generalization of Skills for Young Children with Autism and Developmental Delays
Saturday, May 23, 2009
1:00 PM–2:20 PM
North 125
Area: AUT/EDC; Domain: Applied Behavior Analysis
Chair: Ilene S. Schwartz (University of Washington)
Discussant: Carol Ann Davis (University of Washington)
Abstract: Slow acquisition and generalization of skills continues to be a struggle for children with disabilities. Children with autism and developmental disabilities often exhibit low rates of engagement, deficits in language and symbolic play with the lack of generalization or transfer of skills. Each of these deficits provides significant challenges for children with autism both in terms of their learning and their long-term outcomes. Given the abundant number of skills young children with autism and developmental delays with must learn, behavior analysts must evaluate and apply generative approaches to instruction so that some skills are taught and others emerge without direct teaching. Three papers will offer research findings on studies of generalization. Axe and Sainato will present their study of matrix training for young children with autism,” “Matrix Training of Instruction Following of Pre-Academic Skills with Preschoolers with Autism”. Duckett and Schwartz will offer a paper examining the use of matrix training for receptive language skills. Garfinkle will present a study of the untrained generalization of engagement in very young children with a focus on play materials. Carol Davis will serve as a discussant in her review of these papers offering implications for practice and recommendations for future directions for research.
 
“Matrix Training of Instruction Following of Pre-Academic Skills with Preschoolers with Autism”
JUDAH AXE (Simmons College), Diane M. Sainato (The Ohio State University)
Abstract: Given the abundant number of skills children with autism must learn, behavior analysts must evaluate and apply generative approaches to instruction so that some skills are taught and others emerge without direct teaching. Matrix training is a generative approach and was evaluated with four preschoolers with autism learning to follow trained and untrained action-picture instructions (e.g., circle the pepper, underline the deer). Six actions and six pictures were each arranged on axes of matrices. Errorless teaching was used to train the instructions along the diagonal of the matrices. A multiple probe across behaviors design was employed. Mean interobserver agreement of responses across participants, phases, and tiers was above 93%. Two participants readily followed untrained instructions with the minimal number of trained instructions. Two participants required training on more than the minimal number of instructions to demonstrate generalization to untrained instructions. Three of the four participants followed instructions to perform the actions with previously known pictures, letters, and numbers. This study extended previous research by using matrix training to teach picture identification and writing skills to preschoolers with autism. Matrix training is an efficient approach to instruction and can be used to teach academic skills to children with autism.
 
The Matrix Revisited: Recombinative Generalization and Young Children with Autism
LAURELIN DUCKETT (The University of Washington), Ilene S. Schwartz (University of Washington)
Abstract: Slow acquisition and generalization continue to be a struggle for children on the autism spectrum. This study looked at the use of recombinative generalization and the effectiveness of using matrix-training procedures to teach receptive language to young children with autism. An AB design with multiple probes was used and then replicated across two children and three matrices, resulting in a total of 6 AB designs. Two preschool children with autism participated in the study, a five-year-old girl and a three-year-old boy. The three matrices involved teaching receptive language combinations of adjective/noun, agent/action, and emotion/preposition. Both children were able to acquire new receptive language using discrete trial training and then generalized to more then 3 times the number of stimuli originally taught. The results of the study show that matrix-training may be an effective and highly efficient way to enhance an intervention with young children with autism by decreasing the number of stimuli being taught and increasing the number of stimuli acquired.
 
The Untrained Generalization
ANN N. GARFINKLE (University of Montana)
Abstract: : Children with autism often have low rates of engagement, deficits in symbolic play, and with the generalization or transfer of skills. Each of these deficits provides significant challenges for children with autism both in terms of their learning and their long-term outcomes. The current study examines toy materials and their attributes that may have facilitated the untrained generalization of engagement across play materials. Three male children under the age of three, diagnosed with autism, were observed over a three-month period. In addition three age-match typically developing children were also measured. In this time period a momentary time sample recorded children's engagement and play material. The data show, with a high degree of confidence, that both the typically developing children and those diagnosed with autism increased the number of different play materials with which they interacted. This increase took place in the absence of training during the observation period. By examining the features of the toy materials it may possible to determine which attributes facilitate the generalization of toy play in young children with autism. Both practical and theoretical implications will be discussed.
 

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