A brief reading assessment and preference assessment were conducted with three participants with developmental and learning disabilities (i.e., two participants were diagnosed with Autism, the third participant was diagnosed with intellectual disability) who did not acquire fluent reading in previous individualized instruction. The results of the brief reading assessment were analyzed in an alternating treatment design and a preference assessment was conducted to determine the participants' preferred reading intervention. Following the results of the two assessments, a reading intervention that matched effectiveness with preference when possible or favored effectiveness when a match was not possible. The selected interventions (and later combined interventions) were implemented for each participant using an A-B-A-C or an A-B-A-C-D design. The results suggest that the four reading strategies are effective options for improving reading fluency. Also, a brief reading assessment can help identify an effective reading strategy. The results are discussed in the context of fluency gains, limitations, and implications for future research.

Through two presented experiments, I investigated the relationship between the development of non-arbitrary relational control on a) degree of incidental acquisition of both the listener and speaker components of naming (Inc-BiN), b) arbitrary derived relations, and 3) joint attention for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In Experiment I, three preschoolers with ASD or developmental disabilities were selected based on their incidental acquisition of the listener component of naming (Inc-UniN). The study explored the effect of non-arbitrary relational teaching across the frames of coordination, distinction, comparison, opposition, and hierarchy on the degree of Inc-BiN for familiar and novel stimuli under the brief condition (Inc-BiN) and the number of correct responses on taught and novel non-arbitrary relations during the pre- or post-intervention probes using a concurrent multiple probes design. All three participants successfully acquired the discriminative function of contextual cues across the five frames for non-arbitrary relations. However, there was no improvement in the degree of Inc-BiN across all three participants. In Experiment II, three new preschoolers who demonstrated Inc-UniN with familiar and novel stimuli at the onset of the study went through the non-arbitrary listener/speaker MEI procedure across different frames to improve their abilities to derive arbitrary relations for coordination, distinctive, and comparison relations, advance the degree of the Inc-BiN with familiar and novel stimuli, and facilitate joint attention skills through a concurrent multiple probe design. The results showed a functional relationship between the non-arbitrary listener/speaker MEI procedure and the participants’ correct listener and speaker responses during derived arbitrary relational assessments across different frames. However, there was no effect on the degree of Inc-BiN or joint attention responses across all three participants after the intervention.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show significant deficits in communication, emotion recognition, perspective taking, and social skills. One intervention gaining increased attention is the use of computer assisted instruction (CAI) to teach social, emotional and perspective-taking skills to individuals with ASD with the purpose of improving theory of mind skills. This study evaluated the effectiveness of CAI for improving theory of mind skills in four children with high functioning autism ages 5 to 12 years. A single-subject multiple baseline research design across participants was utilized to evaluate the effectiveness of CAI. The software contained 22 instructional scenarios that asked participants to identify emotions of characters based on situational cues displayed in line drawn pictures and audio feedback for correct and incorrect responses. Mind-reading skills were assessed using ten randomly selected scenarios for various emotions and no audio feedback. Visual analysis of the data revealed that all four participants increased mind-reading skills during the CAI condition. Additionally, this study evaluated levels of task engagement during experimental conditions. Three of the four participants showed an increase in task engagement during CAI compared to paper-based social stories used during baseline. Generalization of skills was assessed through the use of social scenarios acted out by family members of participants. All four participants were able to correctly identify emotions displayed in generalization scenarios. Results demonstrated that CAI was an effective and socially viable method for improving ToM skills in children with autism and they could generalize their skills to untrained settings.

Individuals with Asperger’s Syndrome are entering institutions of higher education at an increasing rate. However, they may not be prepared to meet the academic and social demands of the postsecondary environment. Although studies have evaluated the impact of academic and social interventions for children and adolescents with Asperger’s Syndrome, little research has been conducted on the college population. The current study utilized a multiple baseline across participants design to evaluate the effectiveness of a writing learning strategy on the writing performance of three college students with Asperger’s Syndrome. Results indicated that the quality of the writing performance improved following strategy instruction. In addition, participants were able to generalize the use of the strategy to content specific writing tasks. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Autism is a disorder that affects children at an alarming rate. One out of every 88 children is diagnosed with autism in the United States. The disorder is characterized by communication, social, and behavioral deficits. Children with autism often require specialized teaching methods to learn basic skills that most children acquire without specialized instruction. Relatively few studies have examined strategies for teaching safety skills to individuals with autism. The current study utilized a multiple baseline across participants’ design to evaluate whether a modeling and rehearsal strategy is effective for teaching fire safety skills to children with autism between 4 and 5 years of age. Results indicated that modeling and rehearsal were effective in teaching fire safety skills, the skills generalized to novel settings, and maintained 5-weeks following the completion of training. Implications for safety skill instruction and future research are discussed. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2018-07-11T12:31:22Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Caroline Batina Rorato.pdf: 1817395 bytes, checksum: 4d05000736d5277c4d0509ccf91f7d65 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-07-11T12:31:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Caroline Batina Rorato.pdf: 1817395 bytes, checksum: 4d05000736d5277c4d0509ccf91f7d65 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-05-11 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / In 2012, Brazil created the National Policy for the Protection of the Rights of People with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) via sanction of the Brazilian Law No. 12764. After the implementation of this Law, children with autism have been increasingly exposed to academic content in regular classrooms, and teachers have become increasingly unprepared. Considering those difficulties, the present research aimed to teach a teacher and two trainees from a private school in São Paulo, Brazil, to apply discrete trials of motor imitation to a child with ASD. The teaching was composed of three components of Basic Skill Training (BST): theoretical instruction, video modeling and practice with feedback. The baseline consisted of evaluating the teacher’s and trainees’ performance in applying nine items of discrete attempts in a controlled environment to the experimenter, who played the role of a child with autism. The generalization was measured in a task of conditional discrimination, also applied to the experimenter. The results showed that, after teaching, all the participants were able to apply the discrete trials correctly. The theoretical instruction component did not change the performance in the application. Video modeling and practice with feedback were the responsible items for the change in the participants’ performance, the latter producing a more significant change / No Brasil, em 2012, foi criada a Política Nacional de Proteção dos Direitos da Pessoa com Transtorno do Espectro Autista (TEA), com a sanção da Lei nº 12.764. Após a implementação da Lei, as crianças com autismo ficaram cada vez mais expostas a conteúdos acadêmicos nas salas de aula regulares, e os professores, cada vez mais despreparados. Considerando essas dificuldades, a presente pesquisa pretendeu ensinar uma professora e duas estagiárias de uma escola particular de São Paulo, SP, a aplicar tentativas discretas de imitação motora em uma criança com TEA. O ensino foi composto de três componentes do Basic Skill Training (BST): instrução teórica, videomodelação e prática com feedback. A linha de base consistiu na avaliação do desempenho da professora e das estagiárias em aplicar nove itens de tentativas discretas, em ambiente controlado, na experimentadora, que fazia o papel de uma criança com autismo. A generalização foi medida em uma tarefa de discriminação condicional, também aplicada na experimentadora. Os resultados mostraram que, após o ensino, todas as participantes conseguiram aplicar as tentativas discretas de forma correta. O componente de instrução teórica não alterou o desempenho na aplicação, e os itens responsáveis pela mudança foram a videomodelação e a prática com feedback, sendo que o último produziu uma mudança mais significativa no desempenho das participantes

Thesis (DEd)--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2018. / Recent research into pedagogical practices regarding Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) learners has been developing and transforming at a significant rate. However, there has been a dearth of empirical research into how teachers identify and respond appropriately to the basic personality traits of Autistic Spectrum/High Functioning Autistic (AS/HFA) learners. This thesis addresses this specific gap in the research field by undertaking an intensely empirical examination of three AS/HFA learners in transition from Grade 3 to Grade 4 who experience behavioural adaptation challenges. The investigation was conducted in the Western Cape, South Africa, at three schools: one government mainstream and two private schools. Three Grade 3 teachers and three Grade 4 teachers were involved in the project. One facilitator, a class assistant, a teacher for Learners with Special Eductional Needs (LSEN) and an educational psychologist took part. Three learners, aged 9 years transitioning from Grade 3 to Grade 4, were observed: all three were clinically diagnosed as AS/HFA. Of the learners, two were boys and one was a girl. The duration of the project was from August/September 2013 to August/September 2014. A critical interpretive qualitiative case study methodology and purposive sampling were deployed. Non-participant observations, semi-structured interviews and probing techniques suited the nature of this specific investigation. It was necessary to employ these methods to identify the social cognitive and social functioning challenges of these three learners. Analysis of effective pedagogical procedures was used to show by what means the researcher was able to extrapolate Bandura’s principles of environment, personal and behaviour which were developed for typical learners, and apply these principles to atypical learners such as the three AS/HFA subjects under observation in this thesis. Effective pedagogical procedures were analysed in terms of a paradigm of reflective cognition. Such analysis of the detail of classroom procedures allowed the researcher to proceed in an inductive manner; from the specific to the general. Balancing this empirical investigation of specific details, was a generally deductive structure which was based on national and international research in the research area. The latest DSM-V document provided a blue-print which set out the boundaries for this area of study. Before reaching the issue of knowledge that is needed to support teachers confronted by, and too often perplexed by, the inappropriate behaviour of AS/HFA learners in the classroom, it is vital to situate the whole endeavour within the context of Inclusive Education; as reflected in South African policy documents.

Children with autism typically exhibit deficits in behavior and also in visual processing. Development and implementation of visually-cued instructional procedures, combined with electronic technology, have been used successfully to teach children with autism complex behavior chains. This study used photographic activity schedules on computer slideshow software to teach two children with autism to follow computer-mediated cues and engage in four play activities, and to transition between each activity in their homes without the presence of a trained behavior therapist. Results of this study demonstrated that these technologies can be utilized in children's homes to promote computer-mediated play behavior while eliminating the necessary cost of a home behavior therapist to prompt and supervise such activities.

Caregivers of children with autism will likely meet with many school professionals once their children become school-aged. These meetings can be intimidating for caregivers who are unfamiliar with special education terminology and protocol, and caregivers may feel ineffective when communicating with school personnel. The purpose of this study is to describe a training curriculum to teach caregivers ways in which to communicate during meetings with school professionals, including the kinds of questions to ask/statements to make and when to ask or make them. A detailed overview of the training procedures, the participants, and the outcomes are described here. Preliminary data suggest the training produced increases in communication skills and that caregivers found the training effective and useful.

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Educational Psychology / MEd / Unrestricted