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.

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

It is estimated that autism affects 1% of the world’s population (Elsabbagh, 2012). Given the increased numbers of children being identified with the disorder, many believe that there is a global public health crisis looming. This is in part due to the need for expanded capacity in the area of professional development for teachers and improved educational service delivery systems in many parts of the world. The purpose of this paper will be to describe how to design effective educational interventions for children with autism with an emphasis on building capacity among professionals in underdeveloped regions of the world.

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Under federal law, students with disabilities have the right to be educated in classrooms with students without disabilities. For students with autism, social, communication, and behavioral deficits make inclusion difficult. The severity of deficits change over time, and therefore, so too do the effects of these deficits upon inclusion. Although most research indicates autism symptoms improve with age, some studies suggest symptoms worsen, thereby affecting classroom placement. Students with autism use a multitude of interventions, most of which are not evidenced-based. Behavioral interventions are among the small number of treatments that can decrease autism severity and foster inclusion. However, behavioral interventions have not been compared to other widely used treatments, and in practice, they are rarely used in isolation. The purpose of the present study was threefold. First, relations between age, and autism severity were examined. Second, the study investigated whether relations between autism severity and time spent in regular education classrooms differed according to age. Third, it investigated types of treatments students used, and whether using behavioral treatments moderated relations between age, autism severity and amount of time in regular education classrooms. Using a national database (Interactive Autism Network), data about the severity of social, communication and behavior deficits, treatment type, and amount of time spent in regular education classrooms were extracted from school-age students (n = 2646) with autism. The results of the study showed that as age increased, social deficits increased. Furthermore, younger students, and students with more severe social impairment spent less time in regular education classrooms. Age also predicted use of behavioral treatment, and students who used behavioral treatment spent more time in special education classrooms. The findings of this study reflect the current climate of autism knowledge, which emphasizes early, intensive intervention. Consequently, students who were younger, and used behavioral treatments, were likely to be in special education classrooms that could maximize individualization, and associated treatment benefits. This is important, as social deficits increase with age, and reduce the amount of time students spend in inclusive classrooms. Additional studies are needed to further understand how behavioral treatment, compared to or used in conjunction with other commonly used treatments, affects inclusion. / Department of Educational Psychology