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| Learning Skills, Learning to Learn Repertoires, and Generativity |
| Saturday, May 23, 2015 |
| 3:00 PM–4:50 PM |
| 210AB (CC) |
| Area: EDC/AUT; Domain: Service Delivery |
| Chair: Kent Johnson (Morningside Academy) |
| Discussant: Richard M. Kubina Jr. (Penn State) |
| CE Instructor: Kent Johnson, Ph.D. |
| Abstract: Efficient teaching and learning is achieved when students are explicitly taught learning skills in addition to content. Learning content is also accelerated when students are able to learn how to learn content on their own, and learn content quickly. Teaching is accelerated when procedures also produce behavior not directly taught. The four presentations in this symposium explored these four usually neglected aspects of teaching and learning. In the first presentation, Sheila Habarad and her colleagues empirically demonstrate two different methods of TAG Teaching to shape different learning skills. In the second presentation, Anne Bishop demonstrates that youth with autism can learn a generative repertoire, Talk Aloud Problem Solving, to solve a variety of academic and social problems without explicit instruction. In the third presentation, Staheli Meyer shows how standard celeration chart data allows teachers to detect and promote patterns of agile learning, or rapid mastery of skills, with students in a learning center. The fourth presentation by Adam Peal reviews the literature of behavior analysis’ most common procedure for establishing novel behavior, stimulus equivalence, to show the extent, and the conditions under which, individuals with autism have learned novel behavior without direct instruction. |
| Keyword(s): generativity, learning skills, TAG teaching |
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TAG Teaching Learning Skills With Primary and Middle School Students |
| SHEILA M. HABARAD (Morningside Academy), Marianne Delgado (Morningside Academy), Geoffrey H. Martin (Morningside Academy), Joanne K. Robbins (Morningside Academy) |
| Abstract: Morningside Academy explicitly teaches fundamental learning skills to ensure that each student has these vital components in his repertoire to bring the student closer to instruction. Shaping of these skills was explored along a continuum of gross motor, fine motor, and interpersonal skills. In this study, teachers shaped dimensions along the movement cycle of the behavior that already exists in the students repertoires. Sheila Habarad will present a method in which TAG Teaching was used with her reading class of five, 8 year-old students, paired with fluency building sessions in groups of 2-3 students. Generalization of targeted learning skills was measured across the reading class. Marianne Delgado and Geoffrey Martin will present a method in which TAG Teaching was used to increase frequency and duration of attending behavior within a group discussion circle, with one teacher being the discussion leader and the other being the TAG coach of a target student. Acquisition, frequency and duration of fundamental skills are depicted on the Standard Celeration Chart. |
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| The Success of Talk Aloud Problem Solving With Youth with Autism |
| ANNE BISHOP (Haugland Learning Center), Joanne K. Robbins (Morningside Academy) |
| Abstract: Problem solving skills have been shown to be critical to performance in a variety of academic, work force and social situations. As part of our work in attempting to replicate the Morningside Model of Generative Instruction with students with autism, Haugland Learning Center, located in Columbus, Ohio, has used the Talk Aloud Problem Solving procedure. This strategy is based on Whimbey, Lockhead, and Narodes, Problem Solving and Comprehension, and Joanne Robbins teacher training program, Learn to Reason With TAPS: A Talk Aloud Problem Solving Approach. Students between the ages of 13 and 18 were taught the roles of problem solver and listener to solve a variety of logic and social problems. The problem solver thinks aloud while actively solving the problem while the listener analyzes the problem solvers process and gives feedback. Instruction involved demonstration of examples and non-examples, guided practice with teacher and student feedback, and independent practice. Teachers were regularly coached on the facilitation of problem solving activities and given feedback on their performance. We demonstrated that problem solving can be taught to children with autism, and helps students to succeed in a variety of academic and real-life settings. |
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| Agility: Conceptual Aspects and Academic Applications |
| STAHELI MEYER (University of Nevada, Reno & Fit Learning), Timothy C. Fuller (University of Nevada, Reno), William D. Newsome (Fit Learning), Kendra B. Newsome (Fit Learning) |
| Abstract: Agility can be defined as the ability to move quickly and easily, or the ability to think and understand quickly. Academic agility, therefore, refers to patterns of learning characterized by rapid acquisition and mastery. The detection of patterns of agility in learner performance can inform curricular decisions and instructional practices. Moreover, a further elaboration of this phenomenon might result in the ability to program for agile learning. This presentation will discuss the conceptual aspects and academic implications of a clarified notion of academic agility through elaborating and refining the current understanding of this phenomenon. In this data based presentation, we will demonstrate how the Standard Celeration Chart has facilitated the detection of agile patterns of learning as well as refined curricular organization to better fit individual learners. Data obtained from students enrolled in a precision teaching learning center will be presented. The resulting academic implications and benefits of a clarified notion of agility are discussed. |
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| Generative Procedures for Individuals with Disabilities: A Review of Stimulus Equivalence Procedures and Outcomes |
| ADAM MICHAEL PEAL (Pennsylvania State University) |
| Abstract: The purpose of the review presented here was to synthesize and analyze the results from studies regarding the extent to, and the conditions under which, novel skills emerged in the repertoires of individuals with disabilities following stimulus equivalence procedures. A comprehensive search of scholarly databases yielded 32 peer-reviewed studies that met inclusion criteria. The literature indicated that the emergence of novel responding reliably emerged regardless of the type of disability. Special attention was placed on generalization and maintenance data. Furthermore, available research regarding the conditions under which stimulus equivalence was demonstrated (e.g., population, stimuli used, modality) was summarized. Results indicated that the emergence of untrained (i.e. novel) responding occurred across all disabilities examined and across a variety of sense modalities, type of stimuli, skill, and other salient variables. Importantly, while generalization and maintenance were evaluated, only a small minority of studies did so. Of the studies that did, results were varied, ranging from not successfully maintained or generalized, to fully maintained and generalized. Implications for imbedding instruction that reliably yields generative responding in individuals with disabilities are discussed. |
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