Evaluating the Effects of Similar and Distinct Discriminative Stimuli During Auditory Conditional Discrimination Training With Children With Autism.

Angelica A Aguirre, Linda A LeBlanc, Andrea Reavis, Alice M Shillingsburg, Caitlin H Delfs, Catherine A Miltenberger, Kaneen B Symer
Author Information
  1. Angelica A Aguirre: Trumpet Behavioral Health, Dublin, CA USA. ORCID
  2. Linda A LeBlanc: Trumpet Behavioral Health, Dublin, CA USA.
  3. Andrea Reavis: Trumpet Behavioral Health, Dublin, CA USA.
  4. Alice M Shillingsburg: 2Marcus Autism Center, Atlanta, GA USA.
  5. Caitlin H Delfs: 2Marcus Autism Center, Atlanta, GA USA.
  6. Catherine A Miltenberger: Trumpet Behavioral Health, Dublin, CA USA.
  7. Kaneen B Symer: Trumpet Behavioral Health, Dublin, CA USA.

Abstract

Children with autism are often taught auditory conditional discriminations in the form of personal information questions that might prove useful in conversation (e.g., "What is your favorite food?" "Pizza" and "What is your favorite color?" "Purple"). In these questions, the auditory stimuli presented as part of the compound discriminative stimulus (i.e., , /) do not always simultaneously control responding. If all components of the auditory stimulus do not control responding, a child may master 1 target but have trouble acquiring subsequent targets that have a component of a previously learned auditory stimulus because the previously learned response is emitted. One way to avoid this problem is to teach many targets that have no overlapping component stimuli before introducing targets that include a previously learned component. Another way to avoid the problem is to systematically introduce overlapping stimulus components simultaneously to facilitate control by all relevant components. Three children with autism were taught auditory conditional discriminations. An adapted alternating-treatments design was used to compare the use of training sets with programmed overlap of component auditory stimuli to training sets with no overlap of stimulus components. The effects of these 2 arrangements were evaluated on trials to criterion and percentage accuracy during acquisition. All participants reached mastery faster with at least 1 target set in the nonoverlap condition compared to the overlapping condition; 2 out of the 3 participants met the mastery criteria for both overlapping and nonoverlapping targets at a similar rate by the 3rd training set.

Keywords

References

  1. Anal Verbal Behav. 2013;29(1):125-35 [PMID: 23814373]
  2. Anal Verbal Behav. 2011;27(1):3-22 [PMID: 22532752]
  3. Anal Verbal Behav. 2016 Nov 1;32(2):139-153 [PMID: 30800622]
  4. J Appl Behav Anal. 2011 Fall;44(3):659-64 [PMID: 21941400]
  5. J Appl Behav Anal. 1996 Winter;29(4):519-32; quiz 532-3 [PMID: 8995834]
  6. J Appl Behav Anal. 2019 Feb;52(1):28-49 [PMID: 30362102]
  7. Appl Res Ment Retard. 1983;4(4):279-302 [PMID: 6670867]
  8. Anal Verbal Behav. 2016 Oct 14;32(2):205-224 [PMID: 30800626]
  9. J Appl Behav Anal. 2016 Dec;49(4):826-847 [PMID: 27507187]
  10. Anal Verbal Behav. 2016 Sep 12;32(2):96-106 [PMID: 30800619]
  11. Behav Anal. 1987 Spring;10(1):41-5 [PMID: 22477959]
  12. Anal Verbal Behav. 2011;27(1):23-43 [PMID: 22532753]
  13. Anal Verbal Behav. 2016 Oct 21;32(2):107-124 [PMID: 30800620]
  14. Anal Verbal Behav. 2017 Apr 25;33(1):98-116 [PMID: 30854289]
  15. Anal Verbal Behav. 2008;24:159-74 [PMID: 22477411]

Word Cloud

Created with Highcharts 10.0.0auditorystimuluscontrolcomponentstargetscomponentoverlappingconditionalquestionsstimulipreviouslylearnedtrainingChildrenautismtaughtdiscriminationse"Whatfavoritesimultaneouslyresponding1targetwayavoidproblemsetsoverlap2participantsmasterysetconditionAuditoryoftenformpersonalinformationmightproveusefulconversationgfood?""Pizza"color?""Purple"presentedpartcompounddiscriminativei/alwayschildmaymastertroubleacquiringsubsequentresponseemittedOneteachmanyintroducingincludeAnothersystematicallyintroducefacilitaterelevantThreechildrenadaptedalternating-treatmentsdesignusedcompareuseprogrammedeffectsarrangementsevaluatedtrialscriterionpercentageaccuracyacquisitionreachedfasterleastnonoverlapcompared3metcriterianonoverlappingsimilarrate3rdEvaluatingEffectsSimilarDistinctDiscriminativeStimuliConditionalDiscriminationTrainingAutismdiscriminationIntraverbalPersonalStimulus

Similar Articles

Cited By