Global ETD Search

11	Comparing Response Frequency and Response Effort in Reinforcer Assessments with Children with Autism Litvin, Melanie A. 05 1900 (has links) Reinforcer assessments have largely relied on the use of progressive ratio (PR) schedules to identify stimuli that function as reinforcers. PR schedules evaluate the reinforcing efficacy of a stimulus by measuring the number of responses produced in order to access a stimulus as the number of required responses increases. The current evaluation extends the literature on reinforcer assessments by measuring responding under a progressive force (PF) schedule, in addition to progressive ratio requirements. We compared responding under PR and PF schedules with two children with autism using a multielement design embedded within a reversal experimental design. Results were mixed and implications for further development of reinforcer assessment methods (particularly PF schedules) are discussed. reinforcer assessments force progressive ratio schedules progressive force schedules Psychology, Behavioral Reinforcement (Psychology) Behavior therapy. Autism -- Treatment.
12	The dynamics of Autism therapy with preschool children: quantitative observation and computational methods Bertamini, Giulio 05 April 2023 (has links) Clinical and research practice in the context of Autism rapidly evolved in the last decades. Finer diagnostic procedures, evidence-based models of intervention and higher social inclusivity significantly improved the possibility for autistic children to participate in the fabric of social life. In terms of health best practices, gold-standard procedures still need to be improved, and bridging research and clinical practice still presents several challenges. From the clinical standpoint, the role of process variables, predictors, mechanisms, and timing of change still requires extensive investigation in order to explain response variability and design optimized interventions, tailored to individual needs and maximally effective. Observational techniques represent the elective research methods in child development, especially in clinical contexts, due to their non-invasiveness. However, they still suffer from limited objectivity and poor quantification. Further, their main disadvantage is that they are highly time-consuming and labor-intensive. The aim of this thesis was moving forward to promote translational research in clinical practice of Autism intervention with preschool children. At first, we tried to design and apply quantitative observational techniques to longitudinally study treatment response trajectories during developmental intervention. We tried to characterize different response profiles, and which baseline predictors were able to predict the response over time. Secondly, we investigated mechanisms of change. In particular, we focused on the role of the child-therapist interaction dynamics as a possible active mediator of the process of intervention, especially in the developmental framework that stresses the importance of interpersonal aspects. We also aimed at understanding whether certain time-windows during the intervention were particularly predictive of the response, as well as which specific interaction aspects played a role. Finally, to promote the translational application of observational methods and to improve objective quantification, we proposed and validated an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system to automate data annotation in unconstrained clinical contexts, remaining completely non-invasive and dealing with the specific noisy data that characterize them, for the analysis of the child-therapist acoustic interaction. This effort represents a base building block enabling to employ downstream computational techniques greatly reducing the need for human annotation that usually prevents the application of observational research to large amounts of data . We discuss our findings stressing the importance of assuming a developmental framework in Autism, the key role of the interpersonal experience also in the clinical context, the importance of focusing on trajectories of change and the important need to promote the acquisition of large amounts of quantitative data from the clinical contexts exploiting AI-based systems to assist clinicians, improving objectivity, enabling treatment monitoring, and producing precious data-driven knowledge on treatment efficacy. Settore M-PSI/08 - Psicologia Clinica
13	You get what you play for : A multiple-baseline experimental design on child-directed play for parents of autistic children Andreasson, Filippa, D'Angelo Gentile, Axel January 2020 (has links) Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face many challenges which lead to low levels of psychological well-being, partly caused by inability to parent in accordance with one’s values. Child-directed play, a moment of being fully attentive and responsive to one’s child, has the potential to increase parental values. A non-concurrent multiple-baseline experimental design investigated whether daily exercises of child-directed play improved valued parenting and parental perspective-taking. Eight parents of children with diagnosed or suspected ASD were followed daily for six weeks. The intervention comprehended daily practice of child-directed play and video supervision. Child-directed play increased ratings of parental values for all but one participant (Hedges’ g* = 1.67) with effect maintained at follow-up, and increased ratings of parental perspective-taking. A gradual effect indicates the need for greater difference in baseline length between participants. No effects on children, nor on parental well-being were investigated in the present study. Child-directed play autism ASD parent training parent training programs relationship enhancement ACT acceptance and commitment therapy values parental values perspective taking psychological flexibility single-case multiple-baseline non-concurrent single-case experimental design SCED effect size ecological momentary assessment EMA mindful parenting psychology applied psychology autism treatment Barents stund autism AST föräldrastöd föräldraträningsprogram relationsbyggande ACT värderingar föräldravärderingar perspektivtagande psykologisk flexibilitet effektstorlek medveten föräldraskap psykologi tillämpad psykologi autismbehandling Applied Psychology Tillämpad psykologi

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