Orientador: Ana Cláudia Moreira Almeida-Verdu / Banca: André Augusto Borges Varella / Banca: Carlos Barbosa Alves de Souza / Resumo: Indivíduos com transtorno do Espectro Autista (TEA) apresentam importantes déficits em comportamentos diversos, e dentre eles o comportamento verbal. Considerando-se os prejuízos sociais que a ausência de linguagem ocasiona para essa população, como dependência e restrição de acesso ao ensino comum, surge a necessidade de prgramar o ensino de operantes verbais. Todavia, a aquisição de operantes verbais por meio de ensino sistemático e programado exige pré-requisitos como seguir instrução e imitar. Dessa forma também é necessário planejar condições de ensino estruturado para a aprendizagem de tais repertórios. Esse trabalho está organizado em três estudos. O Estudo 01 objetivou realizar levantamento da literatura sobre o procedimento de ensino e autismo no The Analysis of Verbal Behavior a partir do termo autism. Como resultado gerais, identificou-se que os procedimentos de ensino objetivaram em sua maioria o ensino de operantes verbais por instrução por exemplar único (SEI) para aquisição de mando e ecoico. A maioria dos participantes estava entre três e seis anos de idade, apresentava um repertório de até dois operantes em aquisição, e aprendeu os comportamentos alvo dos estudos. O Estudo 02 objetivou ensinar operantes pré-requisitos para dois meninos de cinco e sete anos com Transtorno do Espectro Autista, e verificar o efeito da aquisição sobre coportamentos incompatíveis como a aprendizagem, como estereotipia e comportamentos inadequados. Os participantes tiveram seus repertérios de pré-requisitos ampliados,com uma necessidade decrescente de ajuda e demonstraram uma redução na emissão de respostas concorrentes ao ensino. O Estudo 03 ensinou matching auditivo-visual, ecoico, tanto e mando por instrução por exemplares múltiplos (MEI) para dois participantes. Os resultados demonstraram que após o MEI as crianças passaram a emitir mais respostas verbais vocais do que em relação à condição... / Abstract: Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have significant deficits in many behaviors, and among them verbal behavior. Considering the social damage that the absence of language causes for this population, as dependence and restriction of access to regular education, teachin verbal operant is required. However, the acquisition of verbal operant through systematic and programmed learning requires prerequisites as follows instruction and imitation. Thus it is also necessary to plan structured teaching conditions for learning such repertories. This paper is organized in three studies. Study 01 aimed to carry out a survey of the literature on teaching and autism procedures at The Analysis of Verbal Behavior from the term [autism]. As general results, the study I found that teaching procedures aimed mostly teaching verbal operant for single exemplar instruction (SEI) to acquire mand and echoic. Most the participants were between three and six years old, had a repertoire of one to two operants in acquisition, and learned the target behavior studies. Study 02 aimed to teach operative prerequisites for two boys of five and seven years with Autistic Spectrum Disorder, and assess the effects of the acquisition on behavior incompatible with learning, such as stereoty and inappropriate behavior. Participants had their expanded prerequisites repertories, with a decreating need for help and demonstrated a reduction in the emission of competing answers to teaching. Study 03 taught audio-visual matching, echoic, tact and mand for multiple exemplar instruction (MEI) for two participants. The results showed that after the MEI children began to issue vocal verbal responses than in relation to the initial condition of education. Thus, the study 03 discusses the effectiveness of teaching verbal operant per multiple exemplar instruction in people with ASD and their generative capacity of new verbal repertoires / Mestre

This study evaluated the treatment components of a conversation based Behavioral Skills Training (BST) package used to teach conversation skills to three young adults with developmental disabilities via a component analysis. Following each component, participant's performance was compared to a task analysis that included both vocal and non-vocal conversation skills, such as making comments related to the conversation topic, maintaining eye contact, maintaining and appropriate distance from the conversation partner. The components of the BST package included instructions, modeling of an appropriate conversation, rehearsal, rehearsal with feedback, in-situ training with feedback provided to the participants in a private observation room, and in-situ training with feedback plus reinforcement. The results indicated that different components were correlated with acquisition of the conversation skills for each participant. Implications of the results and areas for future research are discussed.

Autism is a neurological disorder which impairs the individual's social interactions and communication. Such impairments lead to deficits in learning which accumulate over time. Finding effective and efficient technologies to teach children with autism helps to minimize deficits and teach children new skills to be independent learners. There is previous research on technologies such as discrete trail training (DTT), antecedent based interventions, and consequence based interventions which have to be shown to be effective, however, more research is needed to find more cost effective and efficient procedures.. The PEAK Stimulus Equivalence Training Module seeks to teach children with Autism in a concise easy to follow manual. Past research has shown stimulus equivalence to not only effectively teach children with autism novel skills, but also has shown the emergence of untrained relations. The present study uses the PEAK module with three boys with autism, between the ages of 6 and 8, to teach novel stimuli including, planets, holidays, and sports teams and to test for the emergence of untrained relations. Results showed that the all participants demonstrated derived relations. Implications for future research are discussed.

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) language repertoire development varies greatly amongst each individual especially in one’s ability to understand emotions. One way to increase language development and further understand emotions is through stimulus equivalence. Theis present study examined the effefficacy of a stimulus equivalence training procedure in bringing the recognition of others’ emotions under multiple contextual control, and also evaluated co-occurring changes in the flexibility of participant responses to common questions requiring emotional recognition that is multiply controlled. The procedures were taken from the Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge Equivalence Module (PEAK-E) to aid in replication both clinically and in research. The results suggest that each of the three participants, all with an autism diagnosis, were able to identify the facial expressions of others when provided with a person and a context (i.e., What face does Person A feel at Location B?). In addition, two of the three participants were able to correctly identify an individual when provided with a context and an emotion (i.e., Who feels Emotion A at Location C?). Results from the flexibility probes throughout the study however indicate that the participants did not demonstrate an increase vin flexible responding following equivalence training. ectiveness of stimulus equivalence under multiple control to promote the emergence of an untrained relation via the PEAK – E Curriculum: Feelings in Context. Three participants diagnosed with autism, between the ages 12 and 17, were directly trained nine relations that established under a specific context a person will make a certain facial expression. Results indicate that all three participants demonstrated mastery in the training condition; however, when tested for equivalence only two of three participants were able to do so.

This present study evaluated the use of conditional discrimination training and a self-control procedure to increase task compliance, task preference and self-control in three participants. All three participants were previously diagnosed with autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Using a multiple baseline design, participants were first exposed to a preference assessment, a naturalistic baseline and a choice baseline. A relational responding task was then introduced, which attempted to alter the functions of contextual cues associated with `more than' and `less than'. A choice baseline was re-administered to support the transformation of functions and the larger, delayed reinforcer was thinned within a second choice baseline. A final preference assessment was completed that showed an increase in preference of a previously least-preferred task. Results of the procedure showed an increase of self-control, task compliance and task preference. Suggestions for future research and limitations of the study are also discussed.

The present study examined the effects of engagement in both low-preferred and high-preferred concurrent activities during self-control training, and determined the activities' differential effects on participants' tolerance to delayed reinforcement. Three children with autism were given a choice between a small immediate reinforcer and a large delayed reinforcer. During baseline, all three participants consistently selected the smaller reinforcer, and the immediate choice. Two training conditions, including a progressive delay to reinforcement with either a preferred or non-preferred concurrent activity, were first alternately and then simultaneously presented. Two of the three participants reversed response allocation from 100% for the sooner smaller reinforcer to over 90% for the larger later reinforcer, and maintained almost exclusive allocation for the preferred activity. All three participants increased delay tolerance by at least 250% of average natural baseline duration.

The current study examined the effectiveness of a computer-based cognitive defusion intervention on the degree of believability and discomfort of problematic thoughts in two adolescents and one young adult with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) using a multiple probe design across participants. Participants identified a problematic thought that they often had during social interactions with peers which was then targeted throughout the intervention. Primary measures included rating scales for thought believability and discomfort and criterion for therapeutic change was a 30-increment decrease in the mean average of rating scores from baseline levels for three consecutive intervention sessions. Results demonstrated a significant change in the believability of one participant's thought believability that met the therapeutic criterion. However, the remaining participants' rating scores following the intervention did not decrease below the criterion. Secondary measures for cognitive fusion, psychological inflexibility, and mindfulness included the AAQ-II, BAFT, CFQ, and CAMM pre and posttests. Results from these pre and posttest measures did not indicate a significant therapeutic change following treatment. More research is needed to examine the effectiveness of an automated defusion intervention with this population.

The current study investigated the effectiveness of interventions designed to increase a child's engagement in sociodramatic play. Griffin, a 4-year-old boy diagnosed with autism, participated in a play group with two typically developing peers and ten sets of play materials pertaining to a specific theme. Baseline sessions indicated that Griffin engaged in lower rates of sociodramatic play and higher rates of isolate and other play compared to the typically developing peers. The Instructions to Peers intervention consisted of giving instructions to the peer participants prior to each play session, and the Structured Sociodramatic Play intervention consisted of the experimenter engaging Griffin and the peers in sociodramatic play with five sets of play materials prior to each play session. A larger play group with four typically developing peers (two of the peers were participants in the first play group) and five sets of play material themes was used to test for generalization. Results indicated that giving instructions to peers did not have an effect on the amount of sociodramatic play Griffin engaged in. The Structured Sociodramatic Play condition increased Griffin's levels of cooperative play to levels similar to the typically developing peers, and increased his sociodramatic play during some sessions. No differences in play occurred in the generalization setting or with untrained play materials in either setting. A discussion of limitations and factors contributing to the ineffectiveness of the interventions is included.

The present study measures the effect of ACT on 3 children with high functioning autism. In a multiple probe design, the 3 participants received 15-20 minute ACT sessions over 20 days. The children completed a variety of worksheets, games, and activities stretched across the main components of ACT (cognitive defusion, values, commitment to action, acceptance, self as context, and being present). The frequencies of maladaptive target behavior were tracked daily for each participant. The success of ACT sessions was also measured by the AAQ (K), AAQ-II, and ACT self-report. Results are discussed regarding the scores of the assessments, longevity of the ACT sessions, and the frequency of target behaviors. The discussion looks the limitations of the currents study as well as how research can be extended in the future.

Teletherapy is a new form of service delivery that allows practitioners to provide consultation services to clients despite geographical distances. Although Teletherapy had been used in other social service fields, research on Teletherapy within the field of behavior analysis is still relatively new. Teletherapy could advance our field by allowing behavior analysts to provide consultation and supervisions services to a higher number of clients, since Teletherapy would reduce the time and cost spent traveling to different family homes. Research had already shown that Teletherapy can effectively teach parents to implement new skills to their child with autism. This study sought to expand research by comparing Teletherapy supervision sessions with in vivo supervision sessions with four personal support staff. Social validity and treatment integrity were measured in order to assess if staff felt supported during Teletherapy sessions, and to compare any differences in staff performances across the supervision formats. Results show that 75% of the staff felt just as supported during teletherapy supervision as they did during in vivo sessions, and all staff felt that the program used to conduct teletherapy sessions was easy to use. In addition, there was no difference in staff performance for all 4 participants across supervision formats. Future research on Teletherapy is also addressed, and the positive impact Teletherapy can have in advancing the field of behavioral analysis.