Imitation-to-matching procedure for establishing auditory discrimination with children with autism

Document Type

Thesis

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Degree

M.S. Applied Behavior Analysis

Date Completed

2020

First Committee Member

Dickson, Chata A.

Second Committee Member

MacDonald, Rebecca

Third Committee Member

Thompson, Rachel

Abstract

"Two students diagnosed with autism participated in this evaluation of an instructional strategy for establishing auditory discrimination. Prior to instruction, neither participant responded differentially to auditory stimuli in the context of matching to sample. In the first phase, imitation of actions with objects was established with items that produced auditory stimuli (musical instruments). Participants were then taught to respond to the sounds of these instruments when they were out of view in the second phase. Both participants reached mastery criteria for sound-object matching. Finally, participants were taught to respond to spoken words that corresponded to the stimuli by using the instrument sounds as prompts, and gradually fading the volume and duration of the prompts. One participant mastered spoken word-object matching for one set of instruments. The use of imitation of actions with objects that produce sound may aid in transfer of stimulus control from visual to auditory stimuli with some children with autism."

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