The purpose of this study was to teach four preschool children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to wash their hands independently using a video modeling-based intervention package. A research questions was asked: Is there a functional relation between a video modeling-based intervention package and increases in level and trend for washing hands independently? A multiple probe across participants design was used to answer this question. Results indicated that the intervention package had functional relation with the increase in level and trend of the three participants’ performance in washing hands. The intervention package of video modeling and least-to-most prompting was found to be effective to teach the participants the skills taught.

This study evaluated a parent implemented in-situ pedestrian safety skills intervention for three individuals with autism. Specifically, this study examined the utility of using a behavioral skills training (BST) to help parents implement the most-to-least prompting procedures in training their children with autism pedestrian safety skills in community settings. A multiple baseline design across participants was used to assess parent implementation of in-situ pedestrian training as well as child participants' independently performed correct skills. Results indicated that parents implemented most-to-least prompting procedures with high levels of accuracy across streets during intervention and fading of BST. All child participants improved their safety skills significantly during intervention. For one child, the acquired skills maintained during follow- up. The percentages of their independent correct use of pedestrian safety skills were similar to those in baseline during generalization probes.

Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) is an evidence-based practice targeting the communication deficits of children with complex communication needs (CCN). While young children with communication disorders are attending preschool and using AAC, and specifically speech-generating devices (SGDs), with increasing frequency, best practices for implementation with this population are largely unexplored. In an effort to contribute to the knowledge base for teachers, the essential communication partners for children in the classroom setting, this research explored the interactions of four teacher-child dyads and analyzed the prompts and cues used to elicit communicative acts from the children. Results of statistical and descriptive analyses revealed that, while teachers overwhelmingly favor and use verbal prompts over other stimuli, these prompts were no more effective in eliciting communicative acts. These results indicate that teachers would benefit from instruction in a variety of techniques for enhancing communication via AAC; future research directions towards this purpose are detailed.

In der Bildungspolitik wird zunehmend die Digitalisierung des schulischen Unterrichts gefordert. Dabei stellt sich die Frage, ob alle Schüler/innen gleichermaßen von dem zunehmenden Einsatz digitaler Lernmedien im Unterricht profitieren können. Insbesondere Kinder mit Aufmerksamkeitsstörungen haben Schwierigkeiten bei der Planung und Strukturierung ihrer Lernprozesse. Die störungsbedingt leichte Ablenkbarkeit durch externe oder interne Faktoren erschwert das Aufnehmen der Lerninhalte zusätzlich. Während externe Ablenkungen in Lernsituationen durch Umgebungsreize auftreten können, entstehen interne Ablenkungen beim computerbasierten Lernen beispielsweise durch die Möglichkeit, im Internet bevorzugt Seiten nach persönlichem Interesse anstatt nach der Passung zu einer gestellten Lernaufgabe auszuwählen. In zwei empirischen Studien wurde untersucht, inwiefern aufmerksamkeitsgestörte Kinder beim computerbasierten selbstregulierten Lernen durch metakognitive Prompts unterstützt werden können. Diese stellen Lernhilfen dar, die in Form von Pop-Up Fenstern im Lernprogramm eingebunden sind und zu metakognitiven Aktivitäten, wie z.B. zur Planung, Steuerung und Kontrolle des eigenen Lernverhaltens, anregen sollen. Basierend auf Forschungsergebnissen zum metakognitiven Prompting und dem Therapieprogramm Training mit aufmerksamkeitsgestörten Kindern (Lauth & Schlottke, 2009) wurde eine computerbasierte Lernumgebung zum Thema Klima und Klimazonen entwickelt. Die im Lernprogramm enthaltenen metakognitiven Prompts zielten auf eine Strukturierung des Lernprozesses, indem sie zuerst aufforderten, die Lernaufgabe genau zu lesen und wichtige Begriffe herauszufiltern. Nachfolgend sollten entsprechend dieser Begriffe aufgabenrelevante Links in der Seitenleiste markiert und innerhalb der Lernphase dann lediglich diese, als relevant markierten Seiten, gelesen werden. Einige Minuten vor Ende der Lernzeit wurden die Teilnehmenden dazu angehalten, den Lernprozess zu kontrollieren und ggf. zu korrigieren. In der ersten Studie dieser Arbeit (untersucht wurden Kinder der Klassen 6 bis 9, N = 44) verbesserten sich die Lernergebnisse der aufmerksamkeitsgestörten Kinder, die metakognitive Prompts erhielten im Vergleich zu einer Kontrollgruppe mit Gestaltungsprompts nicht. Als Ursache wurde die mangelnde Motivation der Teilnehmenden angesehen, den Aufforderungen in den metakognitiven Prompts Folge zu leisten und ihr Wissen im Lerntest adäquat wiederzugeben. Aus diesem Grund wurde in der zweiten Studie ein motivationaler Anreiz für die Promptbefolgung und die Beantwortung des Wissenstests eingebunden. Untersucht wurden 40 Schüler/innen mit einer Aufmerksamkeitsstörung der Klassenstufen 7 bis 9. Wie in der ersten Studie erfolgte die Zuweisung zu Experimentalgruppe (EG, motivationaler Anreiz für die Promptbefolgung) und Kontrollgruppe (KG, kein motivationaler Anreiz für die Promptbefolgung) randomisiert. Beide Gruppen arbeiteten in der gleichen Lernumgebung, erhielten die gleiche Lernaufgabe, sowie dieselben metakognitiven Prompts. Allen Teilnehmenden wurde für ein gutes Ergebnis im Wissenstest ein motivationaler Anreiz gestellt. Schüler/innen der EG wurden zusätzlich für die Befolgung der metakognitiven Prompts motiviert: die drei Teilnehmenden, welche die Prompts am besten befolgten, sollten einen Geldgutschein bei einem Einkaufsmarkt ihrer Wahl gewinnen. Es zeigte sich, dass in der EG im Vergleich zur KG keine besseren Ergebnisse im Wissenstest erreicht, jedoch die metakognitiven Prompts signifikant besser befolgt wurden. Betrachtet man die gesamte Stichprobe, stellte das Ausmaß der Promptbefolgung für das Fakten- und Transferwissen einen signifikanten Prädiktor dar. Trotz des fehlenden Gruppenunterschieds konnte der lernförderliche Effekt der metakognitiven Prompts somit bestätigt werden. Demzufolge stellt die Einbindung metakognitiver Prompts in computerbasierten Lernumgebungen eine Möglichkeit dar, Kinder mit Aufmerksamkeitsstörungen in ihrem Lernprozess erfolgreich zu unterstützen. Aufgrund der geringen Stichprobenzahlen haben die im Rahmen dieser Arbeit vorgestellten Studien eher einen explorativen Charakter. Dennoch zeigen sie sowohl Ansatzpunkte für die weitere Forschung als auch für die Therapie und die damit verbundene bzw. bezweckte Übertragung der Trainingsinhalte in den schulischen Kontext auf.

There is a growing body of research that suggests that video-based interventions, such as video modeling and video prompting, are effective tools for teaching academic skills to students with disabilities. This study used a single subject, multiple-baseline-across-subjects design to evaluate whether a video-prompting intervention could effectively assist second grade students who had been identified by their teachers as "struggling"in mathematics to better solve multiplication story problems. Five second grade students (one female and four males) ages 7 to 8 viewed the intervention videos on an iPad that modeled how to solve multiplication word problems. To evaluate the effectiveness of the videos, a rubric was used as the primary measure to assess the domains of problem-solving, communicating, and representing with numbers. Based on visual analysis between baseline and intervention, there was a functional relationship between the introduction of the intervention and the performance on the math problems. In addition, a visual analysis between intervention and maintenance appeared stable for all participants. These results indicate that technology can be used to implement interventions for struggling learners and may be utilized in regular classrooms. Results also demonstrate that video modeling can be a useful instructional tool for helping many individuals, not just those with an identified disability, to learn complex tasks. Implementing video models in a classroom setting could enable teachers to consistently provide interventions to students that work more independently, allowing teachers to work on a more one-on-one or small group basis with their students.

Children with limited speech using graphic symbols for communication often express themselves predominantly through single symbols rather than symbol combinations. This study aimed to investigate the effect of an intervention strategy that was incorporated into shared storybook reading on the production of graphic symbol combinations. Three children between the ages of 7;9 (years;months) and 10;8 with limited speech and physical impairments participated in the study. A multiple probe design across behaviours (3 different types of semantic symbol combinations) was used, replicated across the 3 participants. Intervention entailed prompting the production of strategic symbol combinations (generated from a matrix) during shared storybook reading by using a prompting hierarchy. The participants’ production of combinations targeted during intervention as well as their ability to generalize to nontarget combinations from the matrix was monitored using a probe test (picture description task). All 3 participants showed some gains in acquiring the combinations and generalizing to nontarget combinations, as measured by the probe test. While 1 participant showed convincing effects, the other 2 showed lower effects. Lower effects may be partly ascribed to participant characteristics as well as to the discrepancies between the intervention and probe contexts. All participants performed better within the shared storybook reading context. Results suggest that the production of symbol combinations can be facilitated during shared storybook reading and that the matrix strategy promotes generalization to untrained semantic combinations. However, participant gains may not reflect immediately in formal testing situations. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (CAAC) / unrestricted

Teaching AI to play Tabletop Roleplaying Games (TRPG) is a difficult challenge due their negotiable rules and open-ended nature. This is further exacerbated when considering the act of roleplaying, where players do not play or act as themselves, but as a character in a fantasy setting. Previous studies attempting to teach LLMs to play TRPGs do not explicitly discuss role-play in their work, highlighting an absence of a definition in current research. This thesis endeavours in introducing role-playing to AI through developing a prompting method called Control Chain of Thoughts, aimed at teaching it the Dungeons and Dragons alignment system. The prompting method is evaluated through an ablation study where GPT-3.5 is tasked to guess the alignment of characters based on exctracts from D&D gaming sessions. The results indicate a small improvement in GPT’s predictions. Further work needs to be done to evaluate if its alignments help LLMs understand roleplaying.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a modified system of least intrusive prompts on text-dependent listening comprehension for four middle-school-aged students with intellectual disability and autism during read-alouds of adapted grade-level biographies. A system of least intrusive prompts was modified by inserting a rule for answering questions and an opportunity to hear sections of the biography again. The procedure was evaluated via a multiple probe design across students. Outcomes indicate that all students improved listening comprehension after intervention and all students maintained high levels of correct responding 2 weeks after intervention. In addition, three students generalized skills to new biographies. The need for future research and implications for practice are discussed.

Cette recherche, qui relève du domaine de l'apprentissage des langues assisté par ordinateur, se penche sur diverses aides logicielles pouvant faciliter l'activité scripturale en Français Langue Étrangère. Le cadre théorique s'inspire de la linguistique textuelle (Adam, notamment), des travaux portant sur les processus rédactionnels des apprentis-scripteurs, particulièrement en L2 et de l'approche par tâches dans la didactique des langues. Le terrain est constitué d'étudiants thaïlandais de la Section de Français à l'Université de Chiang Maï en Thaïlande, dont le niveau en français se situe entre B1 et B2. Le dispositif d'écriture a été organisé à partir d'une plateforme d'apprentissage en ligne Moodle permettant, d'une part, la présentation de contenus et, d'autre part, la pratique du feedback entre pairs via le forum de la plateforme. Nous avons également expérimenté, dans notre recherche, une aide logicielle à la rédaction, ScribPlus. Cette application, version Internet de logiciels hors-ligne des années 1990 (Scrivere con Word Prof, Gammes d'écriture), vise à développer des compétences de production textuelle chez les apprentis scripteurs par une série d'incitations débouchant sur la génération d'une ébauche de texte. L'ensemble du dispositif (Moodle, ScribPlus, consignes, textes supports) a fait l'objet d'une première mise œuvre et d'un recueil de données; celles-ci ont été analysées dans le but d'améliorer le dispositif. Il a ainsi été possible de faire une seconde expérience en modifiant certains paramètres, notamment les incitations de ScribPlus et le lien lecture-écriture. Les analyses, de nature essentiellement qualitative, se sont fondées sur le système d'incitations de ScribPlus, sur des entretiens semi-directifs avec les étudiants, sur les productions écrites et les feedbacks laissés sur le forum de ces derniers. Leur but était de dégager les apports et les limites du dispositif d'écriture afin de proposer un certain nombre d'améliorations. Cette recherche relève donc de la recherche-action, voire de la recherche développement. / This study falls within the field of computer-assisted language learning and examines various software aids that can facilitate writing activities in French as a Foreign Language. The theoretical framework draws on both textual linguistics (in particular, Adam) and work focusing on learners' writing processes, particularly among second-year undergraduates, as well as on the task-based approach in language learning theory. The research field is composed of Thai students in the French Section at Chiang Mai University in Thailand, with a B1 to B2 level in French. The set of writing aids was organised using the online learning platform Moodle, allowing, on the one hand, the presentation of content and, on the other, peer feedback via the platform's forum. Within this study, the writing aid software Scribplus was also tested. This application, which is an Internet version of 1990s off-line software programs (Scrivere con Word Prof, Gammes d'écriture), aims to develop learners' competence in textual production by using a series of prompts that lead to the generation of a draft text. During an initial phase, the whole set of aids (Moodle, Scribplus, instructions, textual materials) was implemented and data was collected; these data were then analyzed with a view to improving the system. A second experiment was then possible, in which certain parameters were changed, in particular Scribplus's prompts and the reading-writing link. These analyses were mainly qualitative and based on Scribplus's prompting system and on semi-structured interviews with the students, as well as on their written productions and the feedback that they left on the forum. The aim was to identify the benefits and limitations of the set of writing aids in order to suggest a certain number of improvements. This research can therefore be qualified as action research, or even as development research.

Les systèmes de recommandation conversationnels (CRSs) sont des systèmes qui fournissent des recommandations personnalisées par le biais d’une session de dialogue en langage naturel avec les utilisateurs. Contrairement aux systèmes de recommandation traditionnels qui ne prennent comme vérité de base que les préférences anciennes des utilisateurs, les CRS impliquent aussi les préférences actuelles des utilisateurs durant la conversation. Des recherches récentes montrent que la compréhension de la signification contextuelle des préférences des utilisateurs et des dialogues peut améliorer de manière significative les performances du système de recommandation. Des chercheurs ont également montré un lien fort entre les traits de personnalité des utilisateurs et les systèmes de recommandation. La personnalité et les préférences sont des variables essentielles en sciences sociales. Elles décrivent les différences entre les personnes, que ce soit au niveau individuel ou collectif. Les approches récentes de recommandation basées sur la personnalité sont des systèmes non conversationnels. Par conséquent, il est extrêmement important de détecter et d’utiliser les traits de personnalité des individus dans les systèmes conversationnels afin d’assurer une performance de recommandation et de dialogue plus personnalisée. Pour ce faire, ce travail propose un système de recommandation conversationnel sensible à la personnalité qui est basé sur des modules qui assurent une session de dialogue et recommandation personnalisée en utilisant les traits de personnalité des utilisateurs. Nous proposons également une nouvelle approche de détection de la personnalité, qui est un modèle de langage spécifique au contexte pour détecter les traits des individus en utilisant leurs données publiées sur les réseaux sociaux. Les résultats montrent que notre système proposé a surpassé les approches existantes dans différentes mesures. / A Conversational Recommendation System (CRS) is a system that provides personalized recommendations through a session of natural language dialogue turns with users. Unlike traditional one-shot recommendation systems, which only assume the user’s previous preferences as the ground truth, CRS uses both previous and current user preferences. Recent research shows that understanding the contextual meaning of user preferences and dialogue turns can significantly improve recommendation performance. It also shows a strong link between users’ personality traits and recommendation systems. Personality and preferences are essential variables in computational sociology and social science. They describe the differences between people, both at the individual and collective level. Recent personality-based recommendation approaches are traditional one-shot systems, or “non conversational systems”. Therefore, there is a significant need to detect and employ individuals’ personality traits within the CRS paradigm to ensure a better and more personalized dialogue recommendation performance. Driven by the aforementioned facts, this study proposes a modularized, personality- aware CRS that ensures a personalized dialogue recommendation session using the users’ personality traits. We also propose a novel personality detection approach, which is a context-specific language model for detecting individuals’ personality traits using their social media data. The goal is to create a personality-aware and topic-guided CRS model that performs better than the standard CRS models. Experimental results show that our personality-aware conversation recommendation system has outperformed state-of-the-art approaches in different considered metrics on the topic-guided conversation recommendation dataset.