Association for Behavior Analysis International

Observational learning is important in a child’s development because it allows behavior to be changed by the natural environment without experiencing consequences directly. This symposium will present a review of observational learning research with children with autism as well as cover two recent studies conducted with children with and without developmental disabilities. Both studies focused on the complex repertoire of responding to social contingencies applied to the behavior of others. In the first study, observed contingencies were applied to incorrect responses first and were shifted to correct responses and in the second study initially non-preferred stimuli were established as conditioned reinforcers via observational learning.

Intermediate

Observational learning is important in a child’s development because it allows behavior to be changed by the natural environment without experiencing consequences directly. Given the deficits in this repertoire often observed in children with autism spectrum disorder, effective procedures for teaching observational learning are needed as part of comprehensive behavioral intervention programs. The purpose of the current review was to provide a systematic, quantitative analysis of studies that evaluated procedures for teaching observational learning to children with autism spectrum disorder. We identified 12 studies meeting our inclusion criteria and coded them across 17 parameters. An analysis of this body of research is provided, along with recommendations for clinicians and directions for future research.

We tested the effects of an observational procedure on the establishment of conditioned reinforcement for observing books using multiple probe design across dyads with 4 preschoolers. All of the participants could textually respond to kindergarten or first-grade level high-frequency words, but observing books did not function as a preferred activity for them. The independent variable was the establishment of conditioned reinforcement for books using an observational procedure. During the intervention, the participants were paired into dyads. They observed a peer confederate reading books while the confederate received consistent social approvals from the experimenter; the participants did not receive social attention and were denied access to books during the intervention. The dependent variables were the rate of acquisition of textual responses, and the duration participants spent observing printed words. Results in the first experiment showed 3 participants had an accelerated rate of acquisition of textual responses after books functioned as conditioned reinforcers. Two participants spent a longer time observing printed words during the post-intervention sessions.