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| Variables That Impact Skill Acquisition |
| Saturday, May 23, 2020 |
| 10:00 AM–10:50 AM |
| Virtual |
| Area: AUT/DDA; Domain: Applied Research |
| Chair: Claudia Campos (Florida Institute of Technology) |
| CE Instructor: Claudia Campos, Ph.D. |
| Abstract: The purpose of these three studies was to evaluate different variables that may impact skill acquisition in individuals with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The first paper evaluated the order in which stimuli were presented (i.e., sample-first or comparison-first) during receptive discrimination in six children. Results suggest that all participants learned faster during the sample-first condition. The second paper examined if the participants acquired receptive identification and tacting of unknown stimuli presented in array of stimuli that included directly trained tacts. Results suggest that receptive responding may emerge after tact training and that for some individuals tacting and receptive identification may be acquired through exclusion. Finally, the last paper investigated whether the form of visual stimuli affects the acquisition of object-to-picture matching in three young men. Results suggest that the use of stimuli with greater visual similarity to the target object may yield greater efficiency in mastering object-to-picture relations for some individuals diagnosed with ASD. |
| Target Audience: RBTs, BCaBAs, BCBAs, graduate students |
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CANCELED: Further Examination of the Effects of Order of Stimulus Presentation on Receptive Discrimination |
| JINA SALAMA (Florida Institute of Technology ), Yanerys Leon (University of Miami), Claudia Campos (Florida Institute of Technology), Alexa Suarez (Florida Institute of Technology ), Krista Belinov (Florida Institute of Technology ), Kaitlynn Gokey (Florida Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: Petursdottir and Aguilar (2016) recently demonstrated that presenting the sample auditory stimulus prior to the comparison visual stimuli may enhance the rate of skill acquisition of receptive skills of typically-developing children. More recently, Cubicciotti et al. (2019) and Vedora et al. (2019) attempted to replicate Petursdottir and Aguilar (2016)’s procedures with individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder in more clinical settings. Results from these two studies differed from Peturdottir and Aguilar. However, there were some procedural variations that may have accounted for these mixed findings. Thus, the purpose of the current study was to systematically replicate Petursdottir & Aguilar (2016) and to further extend research in sample-first versus comparison-first conditions using teaching procedures commonly used during discrete trial instruction (e.g., prompt fading) with individuals with autism spectrum disorder or speech delays. All six children who participated in the study acquired receptive skills faster during the sample-first stimulus presentation condition which replicates the original findings by Petursdottir and Aguilar (2016). |
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| Acquisition of Non-Target Tacts and Receptive Identification Through Discrete Trial Instruction |
| JEFF SCHRAM (Engage Behavioral Health), Natalie Mandel (University of South Florida), Catia Cividini-Motta Cividini (University of South Florida) |
| Abstract: Discrete Trial Training (DTT) is a common educational procedure for children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD; Delprato, 2001). This procedure can be used to teach expressive (Sundberg & Partington, 1999) and receptive responses (Smith, 2001). Naming by exclusion (NE) is when individuals acquire a word-object relations from hearing a word and being presented with an unknown stimulus (Greer & Du, 2015) The current study examined if individuals with an ASD acquired receptive identification and tacting of unknown stimuli presented in array of stimuli that included directly trained tacts. The participants in this study are young children diagnosed with an ASD. During training two tacts from a set of three stimuli were directly taught. Then we assessed if participants could receptively identify all three stimuli, two of which were directly taught tacts. Following tests for emergence of receptive identification, we also assessed whether the participants could tact the stimulus that was not directly trained. Current results indicate that some individuals with an ASD receptive responding will emerge after tact training and that these individuals can acquire tacting and receptive identification through exclusion. These results support bi-directional naming and acquiring skills through exclusion. |
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| Matching Visual Stimuli: Does Similarity Matter? |
| KELSEY BURREN (New England Center for Children; Western New England University), Chata A. Dickson (New England Center for Children and Western New England University) |
| Abstract: Three young men with autism participated in this study investigating whether the form of visual stimuli affects the acquisition of object-to-picture matching. Object-to-picture matching was established with photos and line drawings, and then relations were taught between the objects and arbitrary stimuli. Subsequently, probes were conducted for the emergence of untrained relations between these arbitrary stimuli and the photos and line drawings. A parallel treatments design was used to compare performances based on photos vs. line drawings. For two participants, there was no difference in trials to mastery between photos and line drawings. For the third participant, relations were mastered more efficiently with photos than line drawings in 8/11 comparisons; both relations were mastered at the same rate in the remaining 3 comparisons. Equivalence relations emerged between arbitrary symbols and both photos and line drawings for the first two participants, but object-to-arbitrary symbol relations were not acquired by the third participant. The use of stimuli with greater visual similarity to the target object may yield greater efficiency in mastering object-to-picture relations for some individuals with autism. Mean interobserver agreement across all phases and participants was 99%. |
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