Association for Behavior Analysis International

The Association for Behavior Analysis International® (ABAI) is a nonprofit membership organization with the mission to contribute to the well-being of society by developing, enhancing, and supporting the growth and vitality of the science of behavior analysis through research, education, and practice.

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44th Annual Convention; San Diego, CA; 2018

Event Details


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Symposium #464
CE Offered: BACB
Teaching Mands for Information, Prepositions, and Perspective Taking to Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder
Monday, May 28, 2018
12:00 PM–12:50 PM
Manchester Grand Hyatt, Seaport Ballroom H
Area: AUT/VBC; Domain: Applied Research
Chair: Nicole Pantano (Caldwell University)
CE Instructor: Nicole Pantano, M.A.
Abstract:

Individuals with ASD typically have deficits in complex language. The first study, evaluated a behavior interruption chain strategy to mand for information. Specifically, an establishing operation was contrived by withholding a highly preferred item. Once a participant manded "when," access to the item was made contingent on the completion of a mediating response. The second study evaluated the most efficacious procedure to teach prepositions. Prepositions were trained as a mand by placing a highly preferred item either on top of or next to a bin or as a tact by placing a highly preferred item either inside or under a bin. Access to the items was provided contingent upon a mand or tact that included a preposition, depending on the contingency arrangement for the particular training condition. Following training of one verbal operant, transfer to the other verbal operant was assessed. The third study evaluated the effectiveness of a set of procedures taken from the PEAK-T curriculum in teaching perspective taking responses of here/now and then/later to children with ASD. Participants were taught to correctly respond to single-reversal deictic relations given a set of stimuli and were tested for the transfer of the skill to a set of untrained stimuli.

Instruction Level: Basic
Keyword(s): Mands, Perspective taking,, Prepositions
Target Audience:

Board Certified Behavior Analysts and Graduate students

Learning Objectives: Audience members will 1) define a behavior chain interruption procedure and how it can be used to teach a mand for information 2) describe how a preposition can be taught as a mand 3) describe how a preposition can be taught as a tact
 

Using Behavior Chain Interruption Strategy to Teach Adolescents With Autism to Mand for Information

NICOLE PANTANO (Caldwell University), Brielle Sheridan (Caldwell University), Sharon A. Reeve (Caldwell University), Danielle L. Gureghian (Garden Academy), April N. Kisamore (Caldwell University)
Abstract:

Children with autism spectrum disorder tend to communicate using simple mands for tangibles and rarely mand for information without explicit training. The current study examined the effectiveness of using behavior chain interruption strategy to teach adolescents with autism spectrum disorder to mand for information. Specifically, an establishing operation was contrived by withholding a highly preferred stimulus. Participants were taught to mand for this currently unavailable stimulus. Once a participant manded "when," experimenters stated that the stimulus would be available after the completion of a mediating response. Abolishing operations were contrived by complying with a participant's mands. Results indicated that a behavior chain interruption procedure was an effective method to teach a generalized repertoire of mands for "when" across participants. Results indicated that using preferred items and providing a denial statement successfully contrived an EO to mand "when." Interspersing AO trials allowed mands for "when" to come under appropriate establishing operation control. Generalization data indicated that this skill successfully generalized to novel materials and settings across participants. Using a naturalistic teaching procedure and incorporating multiple exemplar training facilitated generalization. Results replicate and extend previous research by demonstrating that all participants acquired this skill using a behavior chain interruption strategy.

 

Training and Transfer of Control of Prepositions as Mands and Tacts

SAMANTHA KLASEK (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee), Tiffany Kodak (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee), Brittany Benitez (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee), Shaji Haq (Trumpet Behavioral Health), Gabriella Ulloa (Trumpet Behavioral Health), Ella M Gorgan (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee), Gabriella Rachal Van Den Elzen (University of Wisconsin), Sophie Knutson (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee)
Abstract:

Although prepositions are commonly taught during early intervention service delivery, there is limited research evaluating the most efficacious and efficient procedures for teaching them. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate two methods for teaching prepositions as a verbal operant. The first method sought to train prepositions as a mand by placing a highly preferred item (as determined through a multiple stimulus without replacement preference assessment) either on top of or next to a bin and providing access to this item contingent upon a correct mand that included a preposition. The second method sought to train prepositions as a tact by placing a highly preferred item either inside or under a bin and providing access to highly preferred items contingent upon responding tact that included a preposition. Following training of one verbal operant, transfer to the other verbal operant was assessed. The current study utilized a multiple baseline across participants with an embedded adapted alternating treatments design, and included five male participants with autism spectrum disorder. All participants acquired prepositions during mand training, with three of the five participants acquiring prepositions more rapidly during mand training as opposed to tact training.

 

Teaching Perspective Taking Skills to Children With Autism

CALEB STANLEY (Southern Illinois University), Mark R. Dixon (Southern Illinois University), Becky Barron (Southern Illinois University), Dana Paliliunas (Southern Illinois University), Jordan Belisle (Southern Illinois University)
Abstract:

From a Relational Frame Theory analysis, deictic relations account for perspective taking responses. Perspective taking skills are often lacking in the repertoire of individuals with disabilities, therefore, this population could benefit from procedures to teach perspective taking skills. Currently, limited literature exists with procedures for establishing perspective taking skills when they are lacking. The current study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a set of procedures taken from the PEAK-T curriculum in teaching perspective taking responses of here/now and then/later to children with autism. Baseline performances suggested that participants demonstrated high levels of correct responding when presented simple here/there and then/later deictic relations, but demonstrated low levels of correct responding when presented simple-reversal here/there and then/later deictic relations. Participants were taught to correctly respond to single-reversal deictic relations given a set of stimuli (set 1) and were tested for the transfer of the skill to a set of untrained stimuli (set 2). Following training, both participants not only correctly responded to the trained set of stimuli (set 1), but also demonstrated mastery of the untrained stimuli (set 2). The data suggest that individuals with autism can be taught perspective taking skills, and they can generalize responding when presented novel stimuli.

 

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