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| Verbal Behavior and PECs with Children with Autism |
| Sunday, May 30, 2004 |
| 3:00 PM–4:20 PM |
| Back Bay C |
| Area: AUT |
| Chair: Deborah Carr (University of Wales College of Medicine) |
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| An Evaluation of Mastery of PECS to Phase II by Children with Autism |
| Domain: Applied Research |
| DEBORAH CARR (University of Wales College of Medicine), Janet Felce (University of Wales College of Medicine) |
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| Abstract: The study investigated the immediate impact of mastery of PECS to Phase II on the communicative behaviour of children with autism. Children aged between 4-7 years, who had received no previous PECS teaching, received a total of 15 hours of PECS teaching over a five-week period. Teaching occurred in the children’s classroom on a sessional basis amounting to one hour per teaching day, covering multiple activity contexts and generalisation of their use of PECS to classroom staff. Three two-hour classroom observation sessions recorded the children’s and teachers’ communicative initiations and responses. The three observations occured: 6 weeks prior to teaching; during the week immediately prior to teaching; during the week immediately following teaching . Two, two-hour observations with children in a comparable control group were separated by a five week interval without PECS teaching. Observations for the children in the intervention group indicate that communicative initiations increased by over approximately 400% immediately after the teaching period, with use of PECS accounting for almost all the increase. Additionally, there was evidence of increased dyadic communication between the children and their teachers. |
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| Project Review: Pennsylvania Initiative to Implement Verbal Behavior Classroom Services for Children with Autism |
| Domain: Applied Research |
| WILLIAM A. GALBRAITH (PA Training and Technical Assistance Network), Michael Miklos (Lancaster Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13) |
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| Abstract: This presentation will be a review of a Pennsylvania project to guide a network of twelve classroom sites in developing behavior analytic services utilizing the conceptual framework of verbal behavior as developed by B.F. Skinner and furthered by Jack Michael, Ph.D, Mark Sunberg, Ph.D, Jim Partington, Ph.D, Vince Carbone, Ed.D and others. Through funding provided by a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Education, a parent group (SAFE, Supporting Autism and Families Everywhere) and Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network (PaTTAN) collaborated to provide workshops on basic concepts, on site training and technical support to school districts and Intermediate Units incorporating a range of behavioral procedures. The address will review the summary of steps in site selection, consultant training, demographic data regarding participants, organization of technical support, lists of resources made available to site participants and a preliminary review of outcome measures. The project implementation began in August of 2003. Outcome measures will include site compliance checklists and child outcome indicators as estimated by progress within individual teaching programs and Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills (ABLLS, Partington and Sundberg, 1998) assessments. Discussion will include a review of problems encountered to date as well as processes that promoted appropriate implementation of behavior analytic procedures. |
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