A review of the literature indicated that critical skills needed by educators of students with autism had not been sufficiently identified. Research efforts using survey instruments appeared to offer a method for gathering data in order to develop and analyze a comprehensive list of critical skills for educators of students with autism. A survey instrument was developed in bifurcate format that required respondents to rate 118 skill items according to Importance and Proficiency. Two Likert-type scales were provided to enable respondents to record their perceptions of Importance and Proficiency. The instrument was mailed to a nationwide stratified sample of educators of students with autism. A total of 90 surveys were mailed with 52 (57%) returned. Four hypotheses and two research questions were developed. Data were analyzed using MANOVA to test for significant differences among the four geographic regions of the United States and within ten skill areas. The findings did not support the hypotheses; therefore, all hypotheses were rejected. In further analysis utilizing the ANOVA and Chi-Square procedures, significant differences among some regions and within some of the skill areas were found. The findings suggest that educators from the four regions tended to differ in regard to Importance and Proficiency for certain skill items. Findings led to recommendations being given relevant to future research on critical skills needed for teachers in the field of autism.

Many students on the autism spectrum display a strong ability to process and comprehend information at elevated levels when presented with it visually. Despite this, students who have autism are increasingly being educated in general education content classrooms that utilize lessons directed to whole groups of students and limit the use of visually presented material. For some students with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), this presentation introduces difficulties related to attention as well as comprehension and retention of material. Research indicates promising results associated with using a graphic organizer to increase comprehension accuracy in students who answer wh-questions following the reading of a short passage. The purpose of this study was to document the relationship between using a graphic organizer and increasing reading comprehension. The study employed a single-subject multiple baseline design across participants to evaluate if the use of a graphic organizer impacted the correctness of answering wh-questions for grade-level social studies content. Participants included four eighth grade students in an urban public school who had been diagnosed with ASD. Results supported research by showing an increase in comprehension skills with the use of a graphic organizer.

The purpose of this experiment was to investigate Tosti's proposal about the timing of feedback. The study examined whether it is better to correct immediately after the error occurs or whether it is better to wait until immediately before the next opportunity to respond. In addition, it aimed to determine whether corrections delivered at different times produced different learner affects. Four children with autism were taught to label two sets of pictures under the two different conditions. Results showed that the timing of the feedback yields similar results in regards to number of correct responses and total trial count. However, in regards to time spent in teaching and learner affect, correcting errors before the next opportunity to respond showed to be the more efficient procedure and produced more favorable affect.

Behavior analysis, and more specifically the study of verbal behavior, has been used to empirically measure how parents and children interact for decades using single-subject research methods. Developmental psychology utilizes similar measures to describe these interactions across large samples of dyads, but findings across these two fields are rarely integrated due to differences in terminology and application. In order to integrate the literature of these fields, we must identify measures which can describe behavior of a large sample while still being sensitive enough to individual change from behavioral intervention. In particular, these measures must include the function of behavior, or the effect behavior has on the environment, in order to truly capture the strength of the interaction. In two studies, I seek to align measures of parent-child verbal interactions across both perspectives and describe how a variety of contextual, parent, and child characteristics affect parent-child interactions for families of children with autism. In Study 1, I apply a coding paradigm which utilizes aligned measures of parent and child verbal behavior across behavioral and developmental perspectives to remotely recorded video sessions across structured and free-play contexts. I further identify how verbal behavior changes as a function of the level of the child’s verbal development and parent characteristics. I found that parent verbal behavior is not sensitive to the verbal behavior development of their child, nor is it sensitive to the context of the interaction. However, parent behavior was associated with their report of how severe they perceived their child’s maladaptive behavior to be. Furthermore, parent report of their child’s maladaptive behavior was not associated with rates of maladaptive behavior observed in the sessions, but it was positively correlated with measures of child verbal development such that parents of children who demonstrated more complex verbal behavior reported them as exhibiting more maladaptive behavior. In Study 2, I report the effects of a parent training intervention in which I taught parents to accurately identify and consequate their child’s behavior in order to teach their child a new skill. All parents implemented the strategies with fidelity and reported positive changes in their interactions with their child in the home. However, parents did not independently generalize these skills to novel objectives or demonstrate changes to their verbal behavior in new contexts. All children learned these new academic skills, generalized them to the classroom setting, and maintained the skills 2 weeks following intervention. Results are discussed in terms of how functional measures and methods should be utilized across fields to bridge the gap between research and practice for families of children with autism.

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published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2018-05-10T12:55:39Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Eliana Rodrigues Boralli Mota.pdf: 2813064 bytes, checksum: 7cf434a8e920d07549995e817516e3f3 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-05-10T12:55:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Eliana Rodrigues Boralli Mota.pdf: 2813064 bytes, checksum: 7cf434a8e920d07549995e817516e3f3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-03-15 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The objective of this work is to describe and analyze theoretically the path taken in the development of a process of educational intervention for autistic people, with an interdisciplinary vision, exercised in the Association of Friends of the Autistic Child - AUMA, in São Paulo, Brazil, from a clipping of 27 years of the life story of its founder. Having the Interdisciplinary View of Education led to the integration of knowledge with focus in the student, in the past 50 years, with benefits for students and teachers towards 21st century Education Report by Delors to UNESCO: knowing to be, knowing to do, knowing to interact and knowing to know, it has revealed to be even more important for the education of children with the Autism Spectrum Disorder. Outstanding encounters and partnerships that enabled the educational process to evolve are part of the memorial, composing the first chapter. The second chapter emphasizes possible neurological, sensorial and behavioral changes, whose understanding helps to define the specific learning process: visual learning, by association and with the need for structure and predictability. The organization of the educational practice of this learning process is supported by the American Program TEACCH - Treatment and Education for Autistic and Related Communication Handicapped Children, including specific modifications introduced by AUMA. In the third chapter, some phases of the specific educational practice by AUMA are described, with their repercussion, based on interdisciplinary principles. The design of limits and possibilities of the Interdisciplinary Educational Vision and approach for autistic students intends to be a proposal in partnership with teachers and professionals who work with autistic children / O objetivo deste trabalho é descrever e analisar teoricamente o caminho percorrido no desenvolvimento de um processo de intervenção educacional para pessoas autistas, com visão interdisciplinar, exercido na Associação dos Amigos da Criança Autista - AUMA, em São Paulo, Brasil, a partir de um recorte de 27 anos da história de vida de sua fundadora. Tendo a Visão Interdisciplinar da Educação levado à integração do conhecimento com foco no aluno nos últimos 50 anos, com benefícios aos alunos e professores em geral, em direção à Educação do século XXI do Relatório Delors da UNESCO: saber ser, saber fazer, saber interagir e saber conhecer; ela se revela imprescindível na educação para as crianças com o Transtorno do Espectro Autista. Marcantes encontros e parcerias que viabilizaram o processo educacional fazem parte do memorial, compondo o primeiro capítulo. No segundo capítulo são enfatizadas possíveis alterações neurológicas, sensoriais e comportamentais, cujo entendimento ajuda a definir o processo de aprendizado específico: aprendizado visual, por associação e com necessidade de estruturação e previsibilidade. A estruturação da prática educacional que dá sustentação a esse processo de aprendizado apoia-se no Programa TEACCH - Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication Handicapped Children (Tratamento e Educação para Autistas e Crianças com Déficits Relacionados à Comunicação) dos Estados Unidos da América, com modificações específicas introduzidas na AUMA. No terceiro capítulo, são descritas algumas fases da prática Educacional específica da AUMA, e sua repercussão, tendo como base princípios interdisciplinares. Esse desenho de limites e possibilidades da Visão Interdisciplinar Educacional para alunos com TEA pretende ser uma proposta em parceria para professores e profissionais que atuam com crianças autistas

Overcoming social skill deficits in children with autism is a challenge faced by educators and caregivers. Video modeling is a method of training that can promote generalization. This study extends the literature by investigating effects of video modeling on repetitive motor and vocal responses and skill generalization to other settings for children with low-functioning autism/ developmental disabilities. A multiple baseline across 3 play sequences was implemented with 3 males. Results indicate that 2 acquired vocal and motor responses and 1 acquired imitative noises and motor responses using video modeling alone. Generalization occurred with 2 participants. These findings have important implications for the field showing that video modeling can enable educators and caregivers to help children with autism overcome social skill deficits.

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a procedure for teaching a caregiver to shape vocal language in a young child with autism. A multiple baseline design was employed to assess caregiver use of shaping procedures, child vocal language progress, and the social validity of the procedures. Following baseline and introductory sessions, the coach and caregiver reviewed video from the previous session and the coach gave descriptive feedback to the caregiver about her performance. Following the review of the videotaped segment, procedures to increase skills were selected and practiced. Rates of responsive opportunity arrangement, model presentation, responsive model delivery, and responsive event delivery, as well as the child's rate of requests, vocalizations, diversity of vocalizations, and social validity were measured. Data suggested that the procedures effectively taught the skill of shaping to a caregiver, which in turn seemed to produce increases in the child's vocal responding.

Training siblings as change agents for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has been shown to be beneficial in teaching a sibling to teach their brother or sister. There are very few interventions, however, that explore the range of effects that targeting particular skills has on sibling interactions. The purpose of this study was to assess the direct and collateral effects of training behavioral teaching techniques to a typically developing sibling. Four experimental conditions were assessed: baseline, sibling teaching toy play, baseline, and sibling teaching social play. Across all conditions, measures of teaching components and siblings' interactions were assessed. Results of the assessment showed that the sibling was an effective change agent and that more favorable interaction and engagement occurred when social play skills were taught. The results of this sibling intervention and guidelines for condition changes are discussed in terms of sibling relationships.