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| Reinforcement and Intervention for Children with Autism |
| Sunday, May 30, 2004 |
| 10:00 AM–10:50 AM |
| Back Bay D |
| Area: AUT |
| Chair: Joel P. Hundert (McMaster University) |
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| Increased Acquisition Rate of Matching-to-Sample Tasks for Children with Autism by Embedding Reinforcement in the Stimulus Presentation |
| Domain: Applied Research |
| JOEL P. HUNDERT (McMaster University), Helen E. Penn (York University), Alissa Levy (McMaster University) |
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| Abstract: In the first study, novel visual-visual (e.g., matching 3-D to 2-D objects) or auditory-visual (e.g., receptive discrimination of 2-D objects) conditional discrimination tasks were taught in one of two ways for each of three children with autism, aged 4-6 years of age. Under the embedded reinforcement condition, the reinforcer was placed under the correct stimulus out of sight of the child. During teaching trials, the child touched, then lifted up a selected comparison stimulus and retrieved the reinforcer if present. Under the non-embedded reinforcement condition, the reinforcer was delivered to the child after a correct response by the instructor. Acquisition rate to mastery and generalization to new exemplars of target stimuli were measured. The results indicated that in the embedded reinforcement condition, children acquired conditional discriminations in about half the number of trials with no difference in across-stimuli generalization. Inter-rater reliability of measurement of children’s responses and ratings of the fidelity of instructor implementation of the two conditions were both over 90%. In studies two and three, selected aspects of the embedded reinforcement procedure were manipulated and effects monitored on children’s learning performance. |
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| A Comparison of Varied and Constant Reinforcer Presentation on the Independent Play of Two Children with Autism |
| Domain: Applied Research |
| KELLY TAYLOR (TreeHouse School) |
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| Abstract: This investigation compared the effects of constant versus varied reinforcer presentation and their effects on the independent play skills of two children with autism. To achieve a hierarchy of reinforcer preferences a multiple stimulus without replacement procedure was conducted using a list of possible reinforcers supplied by teaching staff. The highest ranked reinforcer in the preference assessment was used for the constant condition and those that ranked second, third and fourth were presented randomly in the variable condition. Results showed that higher rates of responding were associated with the variable condition for both children and highlight the importance of conducting frequent reinforcer assessments in order to ensure that the consequent stimuli remain novel and varied. |
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| The Effects of an Individualized Reward Store Token Economy on the Behavior of a Class of Students with Autism |
| Domain: Applied Research |
| SOPHIA C. MAVROIDIS (AMAC), Daniel Ruttiman (AMAC), Bevin Campbell (AMAC), Frederica Blausten (AMAC), Bobby Newman (AMAC), Joseph Kennedy (AMAC) |
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| Abstract: A school-wide reward store behavior management system was in place at a school for students diagnosed with autism. An individualized reward store token economy was put into place to manage the competing behavior of students diagnosed with autistic-spectrum disorders. Competing behavior decreased during individualized conditions. Implications will be discussed. |
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