Giulio E. Lancioni

Procedures and Parameters of Errorless Discrimination Training with Developmentally Impaired Individuals

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews procedural parameters involved in errorless discrimination training, that is, type of stimulus manipulations, error criteria and positive responses per step, nature of the task, number of steps in the program, and manipulations along the S+ and/or S- stimuli. In two-choice discrimination tasks taught through stimulus shaping or stimulus fading, manipulations have often been carried out only on one of the stimuli. In two-choice discrimination tasks taught through superimposition and fading, manipulations have been carried out on one of the stimuli or on both of them. In tasks taught through delayed-cue procedures, manipulations are normally carried out on one of the stimuli. The chapter discusses basic issues involved, errorless training procedures have not always been as successful as expected, error performance and failures have been reported. Nevertheless, the results obtained with the procedures have, with sporadic exceptions, compared favorably with those obtained with trial-and-error training. Another issue is, procedures involving within-stimulus manipulations and extra-stimulus distinctive-feature manipulations have appeared more effective than procedures based on extra-stimulus nondistinctive-feature manipulations.

Assistive technologies for people with diverse abilities

Chapter 1. Assistive Technologies for Improving Quality of Life Giulio E. Lancioni, Nirbhay N. Singh.- Chapter 2. Assistive Technology for People with Acquired Brain Injury Mandy Rispoli, Wendy Machalicek, Russell Lang.- Chapter 3. Assistive Technology for Postsecondary Students with Disabilities Russell Lang, Sathiyaprakash Ramdoss, Jeff Sigafoos, Vanessa Green, Larah van der Meer, Amy Tostanoski, Allyson Lee, Mark OReilly.- Chapter 4. Assistive Technology for People with Communication Disorders Jeff Sigafoos, Ralf W. Schlosser, Giulio E. Lancioni, Mark F. OReilly, Vanessa A. Green, Nirbhay N. Singh.- Chapter 5. Assistive Technology for Students with Visual Impairments and Blindness Austin M. Mulloy, Cindy Gevarter, Megan Hopkins, Kevin S. Sutherland, Sathiyaprakash T. Ramdoss.- Chapter 6. Assistive Technology for People with Autism Spectrum Disorders Russell Lang, Sathiyaprakash Ramdoss, Tracy Raulston, Amarie Carnet, Jeff Sigafoos, Robert Didden, Dennis Moore, Sam DiGangi, Mark OReilly.- Chapter 7. Assistive Technology for People with Behavior Problems Mark OReilly, Giulio E. Lancioni, Jeff Sigafoos, Russell Lang, Olive Healy, Nirbhay N. Singh, Audrey Sorrells, Soyeon Kang, Heather Koch, Laura Rojeski, Cindy Gevarter.- Chapter 8. Assistive Technology For People With Alzheimers Disease Nirbhay N. Singh, Giulio E. Lancioni, Jeff Sigafoos, Mark OReilly, Alan S.W. Winton Chapter 9. Assistive Technology for Individuals with Learning Disabilities Diane P. Bryant, Brian R. Bryant, Min Wook Ok.- Chapter 10. Assistive Technology for People with Severe/Profound Intellectual and Multiple Disabilities Giulio E. Lancioni, Nirbhay N. Singh, Mark F. OReilly, Jeff Sigafoos, Doretta Oliva.

Using Pictorial Representations as Communication Means with Low-Functioning Children.

Three low-functioning children were successfully taught pictorial representations as communication means. Initially, the subjects were trained to associate cards representing objects with the corresponding objects. Then, they were trained to respond to: (a) cards depicting body positions, (b) cards depicting body positions related to objects, and (c) cards representing simple activities as well as activities involving two children. Subsequently, they were trained to complete cards representing activities involving two children, independently, and to choose the roles for the execution of these activities. At last, they were taught to select from among cards on display, to complete such cards, and to choose the roles for the execution of the activities all by themselves. During the program high generalization learning was observed.

Stimulus Overselectivity in TMR Children: Establishing Functional Control of Simultaneous Multiple Stimuli.

Abstract The present study investigated stimulus overselectivity in retarded children as a function of different procedures for guiding their attention to complex stimuli. Eight TMR children were trained to respond only to a single distinctive feature and to respond to all individual components of complex stimuli (Experiment I). After training, four children discriminated all relevant components and four did not. Three overselective subjects were then trained to attend to all relevant cues (Experiment II) via responding to all individual components and reconstructing the S + in its absence. All children reconstructed the S +, but two responded only to one component during subsequent stimulus control tests. For these children the instructions and response requirements during stimulus control tests were changed (Experiment III). The instructions were similar to those used for training subjects to respond to all S + components. Both children now responded to all components during the stimulus control tests. The results are discussed in terms of the understanding of the variables that influences stimulus overselectivity and the procedures for guiding the attention to all relevant cues.

Teaching independent toileting to profoundly retarded deaf-blind children

Nine profoundly retarded deaf-blind children were trained to initiate and execute toileting activities independently. The training procedure included increase in the subjects intake of liquid, food reduction, positive reinforcement for independent and partially-independent toileting as well as for remaining dry between toileting actions, punishment for pants wetting, limitation of environmental stimulation, and increasing distance between subjects position and toilet bowl. All subjects were able to achieve independence, and the rate of accidents dropped to zero. The acquired skills were also displayed for that part of the day during which training was not applied and were retained, with the exception of one case, after the intervention was discontinued.

The NBAS-K: I. A study of its stability and structure over the first month of life*

The stability and structure of the NBAS-K was tested on a sample of 221 normal infants over the first three days of life; 106 of these subjects were also evaluated at two weeks and one month of age. The results revealed low to moderate stability depending upon the nature of the criterion used to estimate stability. Assessments on Day 3 and at 2 Weeks permit the strongest predictions to one month performance. The structure of the NBAS-K emerges with five factors but with two major factors on each day. New items in the NBAS-K as well as modal scoring system may provide investigators of neonatal behavior with useful supplements for further investigations.

Effects of gross motor activities on the severe self-injurious tantrums of multihandicapped individuals*

The present study assessed the effects of gross motor activities on the self-injurious tantrums of three multihandicapped subjects. The tantrums did not seem related to specific environmental events and were rather infrequent, yet very severe. The study was carried out according to a withdrawal (ABAB) design. During baseline, the subjects executed routine activities that required minimal physical effort. During treatment, they performed gross motor activities that required considerable physical effort. These activities were designed to provide a wide variety of sensory (e.g., tactile, proprioceptive) input, but without tiring the subjects excessively. They were implemented when the subjects were in a quiet state. The results showed that concomitant with treatment, all subjects had a definite decline in the rate of self-injurious tantrums. Two subjects also exhibited a reduction in the duration of the tantrums.

Training EMR Children to Solve Missing Minuend Problems Errorlessly: Acquisition, Generalization, and Maintenance.

Abstract The present study evaluated an errorless procedure for teaching EMR students to solve missing minuend problems (i.e., missing number problems starting with a minus sign). The study consisted of two experiments, with two phases of training in each. The first phase was directed at establishing a nonnumerical, differentiated response to a prompt, the shape of which was gradually transformed to make the discriminative stimulus. The second phase was designed (a) to extend the control of this stimulus to the required numerical operations, and (b) to gradually eliminate the first trained nonnumerical components of the response chain and the experimental conditions (presence of the experimenter and immediate feedback) used for acquisition training. Five subjects participated in Experiment I, and four in Experiment II. The results indicated that seven subjects acquired the target skill in a nearly errorless fashion in 75 to 172 minutes of individual training time. The two other subjects required several programmatic alterations before completing the training. Their total training time was much longer, that is, 212 and 318 minutes, respectively. Moreover, the obtained findings revealed that whenever measured, the acquired skill transferred to similar, more advanced problems, and was maintained over periods ranging from several weeks to several months. The technical aspects are discussed in terms of the literature on stimulus control by prompts. Attention is also given to the educational relevance of the acquired skill.

Self-stimulation and task-related responding: The role of sensory reinforcement in maintaining and extending treatment effects

The present study was aimed at (a) eliminating self-stimulation and increasing task-related responding in severely handicapped children, and (b) assessing maintenance and carry-over of treatment effects following the use of sensory reinforcement. The results showed that applying sensory or edible-liquid reinforcement, contingent on low rates of task-related responses, did not increase these responses nor decrease self-stimulation. These behavior changes were obtained with the combination of reinforcement and punishment. Sensory reinforcement was effective in maintaining and extending the treatment results, while edible-liquid contingencies were not.

The NBAS-K: II. Reinforcement value of the infant's behavior

In this report the results of analyses involving the NBAS-K Scale “Reinforcement Value of the Infants Behavior” are presented. Examiner ratings of infants on this scale did not show great consistency across the first month of life using a Pearson correlation; an interval of same or ±1 score agreements showed moderate consistency; Day 2 and 2-Week ratings were the most stable. However, selected other NBAS-K items were consistently and highly related to Reinforcement Value scores. The implications of both the lack of stability across time and the consistency of the components determining the rating are discussed in terms of potential utility in early neonatal evaluations.