The present investigation evaluated the effectiveness of multiple exemplar training (MET) on the facilitation of bidirectional symmetry-like relations (object-naming) for typically developing children (ages 3-4 yrs) whose first language was Spanish. Two experiments were conducted in which a multiple probe design was implemented to introduce exemplar training across 3 four-item stimulus sets. Participants were first trained in listener (name-object or A-B) relations via either conditional discrimination training (in Experiment 1), or a respondent-type training procedure (in Experiment 2). This training was followed by tests for derived symmetry-like relations (B-A relations). If participants failed these tests, MET was implemented in which B-A relations were explicitly taught with novel stimulus sets. Following MET, probes were conducted again with the original training set and MET continued with novel stimuli until participants met criterion for the emergence of derived B-A relations (Experiment 1) or derived A-B and B-A relations (Experiment 2 only); or after they had been exposed to a total of three different MET sets, whichever occurred first. Results from Experiment 1 indicated failed tests for B-A relations following direct training in A-B relations, and marked improvements in derived B-A relations following MET across all participants. Results from Experiment 2 demonstrated the emergence of derived A-B relations following a respondent-type training procedure (denoted as receptive symmetry training) and the emergence of B-A relations following MET across all participants. These results lend support for the use of a respondent-type training procedure to establish derived relations in typically developing children. Results and implication are discussed in light of a behavior analytic account of language development in general, and for second language acquisition specifically.

Many children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder have difficulties identifying and labeling feelings and emotions of others. Three adolescent males all diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder participated in this study. In a multi-element design, the participants were trained to tact private events of others in context using novel video-based scenarios. Two of the three participants were able to increase and maintain their responding for all trained and derived relations, as well as a transformation of stimulus function task. The third participant required multiple exemplar training to novel stimuli to increase his responding for all the video-based scenarios. The results of the study support the utility of relational training for teaching children with autism to identify private events of others in context.

Currently there is limited published literature on procedures for teaching distinction to individuals who are diagnosed with autism. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the procedures outlined within the PEAK T curriculum to teaching participants to respond in terms of the non-arbitrary property of distinction (i.e., “different”). The procedures that are described in the PEAK T program- 3D- Distinction: Picture Discrimination was replicated across three young males diagnosed with autism using a multiple exemplar simple discrimination training. Responding to non-arbitrary features of stimuli other than sameness is pivotal in the development of more complex forms of language. All three individuals achieved mastery criterion. The results continue to add to the need for research on the different frames of RFT.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of multiple exemplar training in establishing comparative relations of faster and slower as a generalized operant in children with autism. The current study employed a multiple baseline across participants to evaluate the effectiveness of the multiple exemplar training procedures. The participants used in the study were 3 children diagnosed with Autism. The baseline phase consisted of 4-trial blocks; this was done by presenting each stimulus once for AB- relation. Participants were trained comparative relations of faster and slower with one set of stimuli, and test probes were conducted with a novel, untrained set of stimuli to evaluate the degree to which participants responding generalized. This sequence was repeated for the duration of baseline. Y/Z relation remained at low levels during baseline and was only used to see if the skill generalized. The results suggest the procedures were effective for teaching comparative relations for 3 of the 3 participants. Additionally, 3 of the participants responded correctly to the test relations, supporting the use of the procedures in prompting generalized relational responding. An implication is that we can utilize these procedures to establish relational responding in children with autism.

This investigation evaluated the use of multiple exemplar instruction (MEI) to teach perspective-taking skills to adolescents with high-functioning autism. The first experiment used a multiple probe design to examine the use of MEI to teach participants to respond appropriately to the deictic frames of I-You, Here-There, and Now-Then. Participants were instructed and tested using developmentally appropriate perspective-taking protocols, and generalization of perspective-taking skills to a more natural social interaction format was also assessed. The second experiment used a multiple probe design to examine the use of MEI to facilitate defusion from negative thoughts and feelings related to social interaction. Participants were trained to discriminate between different aspects of their own perspective (i.e., self-as-content and self-as-context). Defusion was measured using ratings of the believability and comfort associated with negative thoughts, and the percentage of time engaged in appropriate social interaction was recorded for each participant. Results from Experiment 1 showed the emergence of deictic relational responding in the presence of novel relations for all participants following MEI, and varying degrees of generalization of perspective-taking skills to a natural presentation of social interaction were observed based on the complexity of the deictic relation. Results from Experiment 2 revealed a decrease in believability and an increase in comfort associated with problematic thoughts for all participants following MEI in the absence of directly observed changes in social interaction in the natural environment. These results support the use of MEI as an instructional strategy for teaching perspective-taking skills to individuals with autism. Findings are discussed according to a Relational Frame Theory analysis of perspective-taking.

SPOP paired with multiple exemplar instruction has been shown to be effective with typically developing preschoolers in establishing the joint stimulus control required for the development of naming (Rosales et al., 2012). The purpose of the current investigation is to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the stimulus pairing observation procedure in establishing speaker and listener responses with children with developmental disabilities. Participants were presented with pairings of an auditory and visual stimulus. Testing was conducted after the instructional phase to assess if the participant could tact the item when presented with the picture as well as select the object from an array when given the name of the object. If the participants did not meet mastery criteria during posttests, a multiple exemplar procedure (MEI) was implemented to examine its efficacy in establishing the joint stimulus control of the speaker and listener responses. Following multiple exemplar instruction, testing was conducted. The results of the current investigation show that the SPOP in combination with MEI was effective in establishing both the listener and tact relations for all three participants.

Submitted by ADRIANA MAURA BARBOZA MERLIN null (drimerlin@hotmail.com) on 2017-05-16T02:05:02Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Efeito do MEI (Multiple Exemplar Instruction) na integração entre repertórios de ouvinte e falante em crianças com Desordem do Espectro da Neuropatia Auditiva e implante coclear.pdf: 1899105 bytes, checksum: d8d54b35191a2f700898f07ef9b574b9 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luiz Galeffi (luizgaleffi@gmail.com) on 2017-05-16T14:55:26Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 merlin_amb_me_bauru.pdf: 1899105 bytes, checksum: d8d54b35191a2f700898f07ef9b574b9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-05-16T14:55:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 merlin_amb_me_bauru.pdf: 1899105 bytes, checksum: d8d54b35191a2f700898f07ef9b574b9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-03-28 / Estudos da parceria entre a Fonoaudiologia e Análise do Comportamento têm investigado sob quais condições de ensino implantados cocleares pré-linguais aprendem habilidades auditivas e as relações que estabelecem com a produção oral. Uma rota que permite a extensão do controle entre repertórios verbais é o Ensino por Múltiplos Exemplares (do inglês Multiple Exemplar Instruction, MEI), que tem sido pouco explorada em estudos com usuários de implante coclear. Este estudo objetivou investigar o efeito do ensino por MEI sobre a integração entre repertórios de ouvinte e falante em crianças com Desordem do Espectro da Neuropatia Auditiva (DENA) e usuárias de implante coclear (IC). Participaram três crianças com 6 anos de idade, uma do sexo feminino e duas do sexo masculino, com o diagnóstico de DENA e um quadro de perda auditiva severa-profunda, bilateral e pré-lingual. Todos os participantes usavam implante coclear uni ou bilateral, frequentavam o ensino regular e recebiam atendimento multidisciplinar no follow-up do serviço de implante coclear. Os participantes apresentavam maturidade intelectual típica e reconhecimento auditivo inferior à idade cronológica, aferidos pela Escala Colúmbia de Maturidade Intelectual e o Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT-4R). Foram adotados estímulos auditivos e figuras que corresponderam às palavras (substantivos) e sentenças de dois termos (substantivos+adjetivos), que foram convencionais (para GABI e SOZA) e não convencionais (para DOZA). O estudo empregou um delineamento de sondas múltiplas e foi composto por sondas e ensino. As sondas foram intercaladas com o ensino e avaliaram as relações de discriminação condicional auditivo-visual, de tato e de ecoico para os estímulos de todas as unidades. O ensino foi organizado em duas unidades e cada unidade tinha dois passos; no passo 1, eram ensinadas relações verbais envolvendo apenas substantivos; no passo 2, substantivos+adjetivos. Os blocos de ensino foram estruturados por MEI e apresentavam de maneira rotativa as tarefas de ecoico, de ouvir baseado em seleção (discriminação condicional auditiva-visual) e de tato. Na primeira sonda (pré-teste), os participantes apresentaram desempenhos de ouvinte com variabilidade (100% de acertos para GABI, 60% para SOZA e nulo para DOZA) e os desempenhos de falante foram discrepantes, com porcentagem de acertos nos desempenhos de falante superior ou inferior ao de ouvinte. Os números de sessões variaram entre os participantes, até atingirem a maior porcentagem de acertos nas tarefas de ouvinte e de falante. Ainda que o repertório de ouvinte fosse mais preciso e aprendido primeiro, todos aumentaram a porcentagem de acertos nos desempenhos de falante que ficaram próximos aos de ouvinte após o ensino. Nas sondas que sucederam o ensino com substantivos, GABI e SOZA mantiveram os desempenhos em ouvir e falar e demonstraram a extensão de controle dos estímulos do Passo 1 (substantivo) para o Passo 2 (substantivo+adjetivo), mesmo que ainda não tivesse sido diretamente ensinado. Discute-se o potencial do uso clínico do MEI no estabelecimento, integração e extensão dos repertórios de ouvinte e falante em crianças com DENA e IC. / Studies of the partnership between Speech-Language Pathology and Behavioral Analysis have investigated under which teaching conditions that pre-lingual implanted cochlear learn listening skills and the relations that establish with oral production. A route that can be to promote the extension of control between verbal repertoires is designated Multiple Exemplary Instruction (MEI), which has been little explored in studies with cochlear implants users. This study aimed to investigate the effect of MEI’ teaching on the integration between listening and speaking repertoires in children with Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder (DENA) and cochlear implants users (CI). Participants were three 6-year-old children, one female and two males, with the diagnosis of DENA and a severe-profund, bilateral and pre-lingual hearing loss. All participants used a uni or bilateral cochlear implant, attended regular education and received multidisciplinary care in the follow-up of the cochlear implant service. Participants had typical intellectual maturity and auditory recognition lower the chronological age, measured by Columbia and PPVT-4R tests. Auditory stimuli and figures that corresponded to words (nouns) and sentences of two terms (nouns + adjectives) were used, which were conventional (GABI and SOZA) and nonconventional (DOZA). The study employed a multiple probe design and was composed of probes and teaching. The probes were intercalated with the teaching and evaluated the conditional auditory-visual relations, tact and echoic for the stimuli of all units. Teaching was organized into two units and each unit had two steps; in step 1, verbal relations involving only nouns were taught; in step 2, nouns + adjectives. The teaching blocks were structured by MEI and presented in a rotative way the tasks of echoic, listening based on selection (auditory-visual conditional discrimination) and tact. In the first probe (pre-test), the participants presented listener performances with variability (100% of GABI hits, 60% for SOZA and nil for DOZA) and the speaker performances were discrepant, with correct response percentage higher or lower than the listener. Participants required, an average, of eight sessions in the teaching until they achieved the highest percentage in the listening and speaking tasks. Although the listener's repertoire was more accurate and learned first, they all increased the correct response percentage in the performances of the speakers who were close to those of the listener after teaching. In the probes that succeeded teaching with nouns, GABI and SOZA maintained the listening and speaking performances and demonstrated the control extension of the stimuli from Step 1(noun) to Step 2 (noun + adjective), even though it had not yet been taught directly. The potential of the clinical use of MEI in the establishment, integration and extension of the listener and speaker repertoires in children with DENA and CI is discussed.

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