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| The Effects of the Acquisition of Behavioral Developmental Cusps on Learning and Teaching |
| Monday, May 31, 2010 |
| 10:30 AM–11:50 AM |
| Travis A/B (Grand Hyatt) |
| Area: DEV/EDC; Domain: Applied Behavior Analysis |
| Chair: R. Douglas Greer (Teachers College, Columbia University) |
| Abstract: We present 4-papers describing experiments on the effects of the acquisition of verbal and observational behavioral developmental cusps on learning and teaching. In paper 1 we present an experiment on the effects of multiple exemplar instruction across saying and writing on the emergence of untaught responding. In paper 2 we present an experiment on the effects of conditioning books as reinforcers for observing responses on reductions in stereotypy and acceleration of learning of textual responses. In paper 3 we present an experiment on the effects of auditory MTS instruction on the emergence of partial and full echoic responses. In paper 4 we present an experiment comparing the relation between the presence of Naming, the ability to learn language incidentally, and the effectiveness of types of instruction. The cusps and capabilities that were identified and induced in these experiments make it possible for students to benefit from instruction that they could not prior to their induction. |
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| The Effects of Multiple Exemplar Instruction Across Saying and Writing |
| CARLY M. EBY (Teachers College, Columbia University), R. Douglas Greer (Teachers College, Columbia University), Lisa Dawn Tullo (Teachers College, Columbia University), Katherine Anne Baker (Teachers College, Columbia University) |
| Abstract: We tested the effects of multiple exemplar instruction (MEI) on the transformation of stimulus function across saying and writing for 3 elementary students with autism, using a delayed multiple probe design. Participants were initially taught to spell 4 words (Set 1) in either a vocal or written topography (counterbalanced across participants). Next, the untaught responses (i.e., written responses for participants who received vocal instruction or vice versa) were probed. Then, the participants were taught to spell 4 different words (Set 2 words) as vocal and written responses, using MEI across the written and spoken responses. Following mastery of both response topographies to Set 2, the untaught responses to Set 1 were probed again. Finally, 4 different words (Set 3 novel words) were taught in a single-response-topography (i.e., vocal or written) and then the untaught topography was probed. The results show that the numbers of correct untaught responses to Set 1 words emerged for all participants. Finally, a novel set of word was taught in one function and the untaught responses emerged with 95% to 100% accuracy for all three participants replicating prior studies on the joining o saying and writing. |
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| Effects of Books as Conditioned Reinforcers for Observing on Reductions in Stereotypy and Reading |
| LISA DAWN TULLO (Teachers College, Columbia University), Carly M. Eby (Teachers College, Columbia University), Katherine Anne Baker (Teachers College, Columbia University) |
| Abstract: Four participants diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders were selected from a CABAS® self-contained elementary school classroom. Participant A had pre-reader, pre-writer, listener, and speaker levels of verbal behavior. Participants B, C, and D had speaker, listener, reader, and writer levels of verbal behavior. The experimenters used a delayed multiple probe design across participants. The independent variable was conditioned reinforcement both observing book stimuli accomplished via stimulus-stimulus pairing. The dependent variables were emissions of stereotypy for all 4-participants and also, for 2-participants, the numbers of learn units required to meet criterion on textually responding to a set of sight words. The data showed a functional relation between the emergence of books as a conditioned reinforcer on reductions of stereotypy and accelerated acquisition of sight words |
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| Effects of Auditory Matching on the Emergence and Improvement of Echoics in Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders |
| JINHYEOK CHOI (Teachers College, Columbia University), Noor Younus Syed (Teachers College, Columbia University), Yin ping Chan (Teachers College, Columbia University), R. Douglas Greer (Teachers College, Columbia University) |
| Abstract: We tested the effects of the mastery of a generalized auditory word match-to-sample repertoire on students’ emissions of partial and full echoic responses in 2-experiments conducted with participants with autism spectrum disorders who had no or weak echoic repertoires. The participants were chosen from a self-contained elementary classroom that used teaching as applied behavior analysis. A time-delayed multiple probe design across participants was used in both experiments. The dependent variables in the studies were the numbers of partial and full echoic responses emitted by the participants during pre and post-intervention probe sessions. During intervention sessions, participants were required to match a target sound or word by using a touch screen. Students progressed through successively more difficult auditory matching tasks until they could match novel words without error. Results of showed that for all four students, the number of partial and full echoic responses increased. The findings replicate the results of prior experiments and the touch-screen procedure provides a more user-friendly device that those used in prior studies. |
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| Effects of the Presence and Absence of the Naming Capability on Effective Instructional Presentations |
| ALISON M. CORWIN (Teachers College, Columbia University), R. Douglas Greer (Teachers College, Columbia University) |
| Abstract: In Experiment 1, we tested the effects of the model demonstration learn unit on the acquisition of instructional objectives in six students with developmental delays, ages 5-7 using a time-lagged multiple probe design across matched pairs of participants, with an alternating treatments component. The dependent variable in the study was the student’s rate of learning, as measured by the number of learn units required to meet a curriculum objective. The independent variable in the study was the alternating conditions of standard learn unit and model demonstration learn unit presentation across four curriculum objectives. The results of Experiment 1 showed the model demonstration learn units increased the rate of acquisition of learning tasks for four participants with Naming, but slowed the rate of acquisition for two participants without Naming. In Experiment 2, we induced Naming for the two participants lacking the capability. After the induction of Naming, the procedures of the first experiment were replicated with these participants across four novel curriculum objectives. The results of Experiment 2 showed that model demonstration learn units were effective at increasing the rate of acquisition of learning tasks for two participants, when the prerequisite of Naming was induced |
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