Rocio Rosales

THE EFFECTS OF BEHAVIORAL SKILLS TRAINING ON IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PICTURE EXCHANGE COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

The effectiveness of a behavioral skills training (BST) package to teach the implementation of the first three phases of the picture exchange communication system (PECS) was evaluated with 3 adults who had no history teaching any functional communication system. A multiple baseline design across participants was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the training package, which consisted of a video, written and verbal instructions, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback. Results showed significant improvements relative to baseline in a short amount of training time and that skills generalized to a learner with a severe developmental disability. Skills were maintained at 1 month follow-up for 1 participant.

Creating single-subject design graphs in Microsoft Excel 2007.

Over 10 years have passed since the publication of Carr and Burkholders (1998) technical article on how to construct single-subject graphs using Microsoft Excel. Over the course of the past decade, the Excel program has undergone a series of revisions that make the Carr and Burkholder paper somewhat difficult to follow with newer versions. The present article provides task analyses for constructing various types of commonly used single-subject design graphs in Microsoft Excel 2007. The task analyses were evaluated using a between-subjects design that compared the graphing skills of 22 behavior-analytic graduate students using Excel 2007 and either the Carr and Burkholder or newly developed task analyses. Results indicate that the new task analyses yielded more accurate and faster graph construction than the Carr and Burkholder instructions.

Extended Analysis of Empirical Citations with Skinner's Verbal Behavior: 1984–2004

The present paper comments on and extends the citation analysis of verbal operant publications based on Skinner’s Verbal Behavior (1957) by Dymond, O’Hora, Whelan, and O’Donovan (2006). Variations in population parameters were evaluated for only those studies that Dymond et al. categorized as empirical. Preliminary results indicate that the majority of empirical research in the area of verbal behavior has been conducted with the younger developmentally disabled population and has focused on verbal operants from the introductory chapters of Skinner’s book. It is clear that Verbal Behavior has influenced empirical research over the past 50 years. We believe, however, that there are many underdeveloped research areas originating from Verbal Behavior that have not yet been addressed. Suggestions for extended areas of research are provided.

Effects of Multiple Exemplar Training on the Emergence of Derived Relations in Preschool Children Learning a Second Language.

We evaluated the facilitative effects of multiple exemplar training (MET) on the establishment of derived tact relations in typically developing children. A multiple-probe design across stimulus sets was implemented to introduce MET. Participants were first taught to conditionally relate dictated names in English to their corresponding objects (listener behavior; A-B relations), followed by tests for derived tacts (B-A relations). If participants failed these tests, MET was implemented whereby tact relations were explicitly taught with novel stimulus sets, followed by test probes with the original training set. MET continued with novel stimuli until participants met criterion for the emergence of derived tact relations or after exposure to three MET sets. Results indicated failed tests for tact relations following direct training in listener relations, and marked improvements in derived tact relations following MET across all participants.

The Semistructured Interview for Consideration of Ethnic Culture in Therapy Scale: Initial Psychometric and Outcome Support

There has been recent pressure for practitioners to consider cultural variables when implementing evidence-based interventions. Therefore, the Semistructured Interview for Consideration of Ethnic Culture in Therapy Scale (SSICECTS) was empirically developed to address this issue. First, psychometric properties of a 6-item scale were evaluated in 279 individuals of various ethnicities. Results indicated two factors accounting for 71% of the variance (ethnic cultural importance and ethnic cultural problems). Internal consistency and convergent validity were satisfactory. Ethnic minority participants demonstrated significantly higher scores than did Caucasians, suggesting this scale may be particularly applicable in ethnic minority populations. In a second study, a controlled trial was conducted to examine clinical utility of the semistructured interview component in a subsample of 151 participants. Participant interviewees were queried about their basic demographic information and were subsequently instructed to evaluate the interviewers’ performance. Interviewees were then randomly assigned to receive the SSICECTS or a parallel semistructured interview regarding exercise. After participants completed their respective semistructured interviews, they were again instructed to evaluate the interviewers. Results indicated both semistructured interviews enhanced evaluations. However, interviewers who administered the SSICECTS were perceived as having greater knowledge and respect of participants’ ethnic culture.

A further evaluation of behavioral skills training for implementation of the picture exchange communication system

We evaluated the effectiveness of a behavioral skills training package to teach implementation of Phases 1, 2, and 3A of the picture exchange communication system (PECS) to teachers employed at a therapeutic center for children with autism. Probes in the natural environment and follow-up were conducted with children who were assigned to work with the teachers in their own classrooms. Results provide additional support for the efficacy of behavioral skills training to teach implementation of PECS.

EXAMINING THE UTILITY OF THE STIMULUS PAIRING OBSERVATION PROCEDURE WITH PRESCHOOL CHILDREN LEARNING A SECOND LANGUAGE

We evaluated the effectiveness of a stimulus pairing observation procedure to facilitate tact and listener relations in preschool children learning a second language. This procedure resulted in the establishment of most listener relations as well as some tact relations. Multiple-exemplar training resulted in the establishment of most of the remaining relations. The implications for the use of these procedures to establish simple vocabulary skills in children are discussed.

An Investigation of Stimulus Pairing and Listener Training to Establish Emergent Intraverbals in Children with Autism

We examined two methods to facilitate the emergence of untaught intraverbal responses to children with autism. Listener behavior training (LT) involved reinforcement of a selection-based response following presentation of an array of pictures on an iPad® and an auditory instruction describing a characteristic of the picture. Stimulus pairing (SP) involved presentation of one picture in isolation on the iPad® and an auditory instruction describing a characteristic of the picture. Participants were not required to emit an overt vocal response during SP. Results indicate both procedures were effective at producing some untaught intraverbal responses, but a transfer of stimulus control procedure was required for two of the three participants to meet mastery criterion. Results are discussed in terms of necessary prerequisite skills for each procedure, and the requirement of an overt or echoic response to help facilitate the emergence of intraverbals.

Comparison of Prompting Techniques to Teach Children With Autism to Ask Questions in the Context of a Conversation

An adapted alternating treatments design was used to compare the efficacy of echoic and textual prompts to teach three students with autism (ages 8–15) to ask questions related to two pre-selected topics of conversation. Participants were first required to answer questions related to the topics to determine whether accurate responses were within their repertoire. This was followed by a transfer of stimulus control procedure to teach participants to ask relevant questions to the experimenter on the same topics. Probes with a novel conversation topic were conducted in the natural environment with a peer, and follow-up probes were conducted after training. Results indicate questions taught using an echoic prompt were acquired in fewer trials to criterion than questions taught using a textual prompt for two of the three participants. Limitations and implications for future research will be discussed.

Comparison of simple and complex auditory-visual conditional discrimination training.

We investigated the relative effects of simple and complex auditory-visual discrimination training using an adapted alternating treatments design to establish derived stimulus relations in 2 children who had been diagnosed with autism and 1 typically developing peer. Emergence of untrained conditional relations was observed after training in both conditions, with a possible advantage of simple-sample training for 1 participant. Results of generalization and follow-up probes were mixed.