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| Changes in Student Performance: Case Studies in Verbal Behavior Within a Large Scale Public School Project |
| Tuesday, June 1, 2010 |
| 10:30 AM–11:50 AM |
| 204AB (CC) |
| Area: AUT/VBC; Domain: Applied Behavior Analysis |
| Chair: Michael Miklos (Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network) |
| Discussant: Mark L. Sundberg (Sundberg and Associates) |
| CE Instructor: Charlotte Fudge, M.S. |
| Abstract: The Pennsylvania Verbal Behavior Project provides applied behavior analytic services to students with autism in over 100 classes within the Commonwealth. Language instruction within the Project is guided by the analysis of verbal behavior and includes both intensive teaching through a discrete trial format as well as natural environment teaching. Symposium content will review case studies presenting outcome data accumulated in the PA VB Project in various formats including a video media presentation, results of VB-MAPP assessments, and student progress within individual instructional programs. A description of Project training processes, fidelity measures, and data calibration will be included. Procedural integrity will be discussed in relation to a mixed and varied presentation of discrete trials and errorless procedures. Case study data will be referenced to measures of implementation of instructional methods within participating classrooms. The main goal of these presentations will be to provide priliminary demonstrations of positive changes in student functioning along dimensions of behavior associated with autism. |
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| Media Presentation of Case Studies Within the Pennsylvania Verbal Behavior Project: A Video Presentation of Student Progress for Training and Public Awareness |
| WILLIAM A. GALBRAITH (Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network) |
| Abstract: This session will include a brief overview of the structure and demographics of efforts within the PA VB Project. Processes of training, monitoring implementation, general instructional procedures and data systems will be discussed. Descriptive data for each variable will be followed by a presentation of case studies in a video documentary format. The video will include parent and teacher reports, footage of behavior change, and supportive data. Programming and organization of four PA VB Project classrooms will be highlighted. Classrooms reviewed are public school autism support classes including a preschool age level class, two elementary school classes, and an intermediate school class. Video footage of individual students will include examples of various instructional strategies and the progress of the individual students across a single school year. |
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| Repeated Demonstrations of Student Progress on the Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program From Within a Single School Year |
| MICHAEL MIKLOS (Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network) |
| Abstract: A series of case studies of student progress documented through protocol analysis of assessment outcomes on the Verbal Behavior-Milestones Assessment and Placement Program will be presented. Individual student case studies derived from various participating sites in the PA VB Project will be presented and include relevant descriptions of systematic staff training procedures, measures of degree of protocol implementation and fidelity measures. Descriptions of student characteristics in relation to diagnosis for each case study will be provided. Case studies will suggest support for a systematic application of behavioral programs focusing language instruction derived from a conceptual analysis of verbal behavior. The primary mode of data presentation will be VB-MAPP grids completed at two points, fall and spring, within a single school year. Outcomes will be discussed in relation to meaningful changes in student functioning related to teaching mands, tacts, intraverbals, listener responding, echoics, social skills, and other skill domains. |
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| Verbal Behavior Programming and Resultant Changes in Performance for Skill Acquisition and the Reduction of Problem Behavior |
| AMIRIS DIPUGLIA (PaTTAN/ PA Verbal Behavior Project) |
| Abstract: A series of brief case studies derived from public school classes within the PA VB Project will illustrate skill acquisition for students with autism across specific instructional programs addressing the acquisition of mands, tacts, listener responding, imitation, intraverbals, match to sample and other skills. For certain students, data tracking the reduction of problem behavior will also be presented in relation to verbal skill acquisition. These case studies will provide further demonstration of changes in meaningful skill acquisition and adaptive functioning for students with autism in relation to specific instructional protocols associated with the verbal behavior approach including errorless teaching, interspersing task presentation, natural environment training, and consideration of motivative variables. Each case study will be brief, but multiple examples of changes in meaningful skill acquisition across a number of students will be presented. The cases studies will be derived from a variety of classes and students with autism of various chronological ages. |
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