Gabrielle T. Lee

Effects of Tact Prompts on Acquisition and Maintenance of Divergent Intraverbal Responses by a Child With Autism

This study investigated the effects of tact prompts on the acquisition and retention of divergent intraverbal responding to categorical questions involving conditional discriminations. A 6-year-old boy with autism participated in the study. A multiple probe design across behaviors was used. A tact-prompt procedure was implemented. The results suggested that the tact-prompt procedure was effective to establish and increase the number of divergent intraverbal responses to questions across two categories. The child spontaneously emitted novel responses during training and generalization probe sessions, indicating occurrences of response generalization after divergent intraverbal training. Maintenance probes showed that divergent intraverbal responses were maintained at high levels for all target categorical questions 3 weeks after the completion of training.

Using Peer-Mediated LEGO® Play Intervention to Improve Social Interactions for Chinese Children with Autism in an Inclusive Setting.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a peer-mediated LEGO® play intervention on improving social skills for children with ASD in an inclusive preschool in China. Three boys with ASD and 13 typically developing children participated in this study. A multiple-probe across participants design was used. The intervention consisted of LEGO® construction activities incorporated with peer-mediated strategies for one child with ASD and two typically developing peers. The intervention sessions were conducted two sessions per week with a total of 28–31 sessions for each participant. Results indicated that all three children with ASD increased their social initiations and responses following the completion of the intervention. Social validity was also obtained.

Increasing “Object-Substitution” Symbolic Play in Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders:

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) may not develop symbolic play skills, so such skills need to be taught specifically. We report an experiment regarding a procedure targeting “object-substitution” symbolic play skills. The “object-substitution” symbolic play behavior occurred when the child labeled a common object with the name of a substitute and used the object to perform a play action (e.g., As she put a bowl on her head, she called it a hat). A multiple probe across behaviors design was employed with five children (four boys and one girl, aged 3 to 6 years) with ASD. All children had verbal communication and demonstrated functional play and generalized imitation, but no symbolic play skills prior to the study. The instruction consisted of intraverbal training, picture prompts, and modeling of play actions. All children demonstrated object-substitution symbolic play skills after the instruction. The occurrences of response generalization were also discussed.

Prevention of Severe Problem Behavior

The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of evidence-based practices for prevention of problem behaviors by individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Behavioral practices that have contributed to improved methodology for prevention include the use of functional analysis, preference assessments, function-based treatments, early identification and evaluation, instruction of inoculation skills for young children at risk for problem behaviors, antecedent control, and the increased applications of basic behavioral principles, such as the matching law and conditioned reinforcement, in applied settings.

A Pilot Study of a Culturally Adapted Early Intervention for Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders in China.

The purpose of this study was to pilot test the effects of a culturally adapted early intervention influenced by the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) on reduction of autism symptoms and severity categorization for young children with autism spectrum disorders in China. Participants were randomly assigned to either the control or intervention groups. The children’s age ranged from 24 to 60 months in this study. Children in the control group (n = 20) received eclectic intervention services for a minimum of 2 hr per day, 10 hr per week, while children in the intervention group (n = 16) received the culturally adapted intervention 1 hr per day, 5 hr per week, plus 5 hr per week of the same services as the control group for a total of 8 weeks. After 8 weeks, children in the intervention group demonstrated a significant decrease in autism symptoms and improved severity categorization, compared with children in the control group. Future studies and implications of the culturally adapted early intervention in China are discussed.

Effects of Self-Monitoring Intervention on Independent Completion of a Daily Living Skill for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders in China

Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a self-monitoring intervention on the independent completion of dishwashing for three boys with autism (ages 6, 7, and 8) in China. The self-monitoring intervention included visual task analysis, in vivo modeling, self-recording, video self-feedback, and reinforcement. A multiple probe across subjects design was used. Prior to the study, the children had limited or no dishwashing skills, nor did they receive any training on self-monitoring. All three children acquired dishwashing and performed the task independently without supervision one week after the intervention. Their parents were very satisfied with this intervention.

The right to effective treatment for people with developmental disabilities and severe problem behaviors.

Although Van Houten and colleagues (1988a, 1988b) generated two separate publications with identical content under the title “The Right to Effective Treatment,” five other rights were included. To determine the impact on research, we measured an objective outcome—the number of citations since publication in both The Behavior Analyst and the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. We presented citations for each year from 1989 until December 2016, some 28 years later. There appears to be an increasing trend in the citation of Van Houten et al. (1988a; 1988b) over the years. Finally, to determine the impact of the policy on practice, we attempted to compare the Professional and Ethical Compliance Code for Behavior Analysts (the Code; Behavior Analyst Certification Board, 2017) with the six rights in Van Houten et al. (1988a; 1988b). The Code clearly covers all six rights. We then proposed several recommendations and a checklist to be used in clinical settings.

Childbirth fear and related factors among pregnant and postpartum women in Malawi

BackgroundChildbirth fear is a health concern in women living in high-income countries; however, little is known about childbirth fear among women living in low-income countries like Malawi. In this study, we explored childbirth fear and associated factors among pregnant and postpartum women in Malawi.MethodsA cross-sectional study of 152 pregnant and 153 postpartum women was conducted at a district hospital in Malawi. Participants were assessed for childbirth fear using the Wijma Delivery Expectancy/Experience Questionnaire (WDEQ). Demographic and obstetric variables were collected using a structured questionnaire. The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) was used to measure social support. Using a multinomial logistic regression, factors related to childbirth fears were examined, namely demographic and obstetric characteristics, and social support.ResultsThe mean age of participants was 26 (standard deviation: 6.4) years. During pregnancy, 39% women reported a low level of fear, 41% reported moderate fear, and 20% reported high fear; while after birth, 49, 41, and 10% women reported low, moderate, and high fear, respectively. Pregnant women who were illiterate (odds ratio (OR): 5.0, p < 0.01) or unemployed (OR: 12.6, p < 0.01) were more likely to report moderate and high fear. Postpartum mothers who were illiterate (OR: 4.2, p < 0.01) or unemployed (OR: 11.8, p < 0.01) were more likely to have moderate and high fear. Furthermore, postpartum women who sustained perineal tears had significantly higher odds of experiencing moderate (OR: 5.3, p < 0.01) or high (OR: 19.9, p < 0.01) fear than their counterparts.ConclusionsChildbirth fear is common in Malawi, and pregnant women are more likely to experience high levels of fear than postpartum women. This study highlighted the connection between childbirth fear with mother’s education, employment, and perineal tears during delivery. Identifying and developing interventions for women with these associated characteristics is of clinical importance for the reduction of childbirth fear before and after childbirth in Malawi.

Establishing the transformation of motivating operations across mands and tacts for preschoolers with developmental delays.

In 2 studies, we tested the effects of multiple exemplar instruction (MEI), using rapidly rotating mand and tact opportunities under relevant motivating conditions, on the transformation of motivating operations (MOs) across mands and tacts for sets of adjective-object pairs. The design for both studies was a delayed multiple probe across participants, using pre- and postintervention tests of untaught mand or tact functions. Two 3-year-old children with developmental disabilities participated in Experiment 1, and 5 4-year-old males with developmental delays participated in Experiment 2. At the outset of the study, none of the participants demonstrated both mand and tact responses for untaught functions. After MEI, untaught adjective-object functions for mands or tacts emerged for all children in both experiments, suggesting that the transformation of MOs is a verbal behavior developmental cusp. Our findings support Skinner’s notion that mand and tact functions are acquired separately, but later join as a function of experience.

Using Self-Monitoring With Guided Goal Setting to Increase Academic Engagement for a Student With Autism in an Inclusive Classroom in China:

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether using self-monitoring with guided goal setting was effective in increasing academic engagement for a student with autism who frequently displayed disruptive behaviors in an inclusive classroom in China. A 9-year-old male student with autism participated in this study. A changing criterion single-subject design was used. Training on self-monitoring took place outside of the classroom prior to the implementation of self-monitoring and guided goal setting in the language art class in an inclusive classroom. The goal was gradually increased and determined by the student’s best performance on the previous phase. Results showed an increase in the student’s academic engagement during intervention. The student also maintained a high level of academic engagement during 1-week follow-up sessions without self-monitoring.