Evaluation of synthesized SSP and direct reinforcement procedures on rates of echoic responding in 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

Ahearn, William H.

Second Committee Member

Bourret, Jason

Third Committee Member

Henley, Amy

Abstract

"Communication deficits are often displayed in individuals with an autism spectrum disorder Research has shown that echoic responding can be facilitated by pairing an auditory stimulus with a preferred edible item using a stimulus-stimulus pairing (SSP) procedure. In this study, two auditory stimulus presentation styles of the SSP procedure were compared using a parallel treatments design. Following increases in target responding, a direct reinforcement (DR) procedure was then implemented. To assess whether echoic control was obtained, verbal operant probes were conducted before and after each teaching comparison. Results for two participants suggested that the use of an SSP procedure which used 3 pairing presentations per minute was more effective at increasing target vocalizations than the 1 pairing presentation per minute. Direct reinforcement of vocal imitation for these two participants further increased rates in target vocalizations. For one participant, SSP was not effective at increasing echoic responding. For this participant, a mand-model (MM) and shaping procedure were implemented. Target responding remained at zero throughout MM sessions. Target responding for both phonemes during step one of the shaping procedure remained at zero however, as the shaping procedure progressed, target responding for one phoneme increased."

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