Evaluation of the iPad in the acquisition of requesting skills for children with autism spectrum disorder

The iPad® with the Proloquo2Go™ application is designed to function as a speech-generating device (SGD). This study evaluates whether children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can acquire requesting skills using the iPad® with the Proloquo2Go™ application. Participants included three children with ASD between the ages of three and five. A multiple probe design across participants was used. Intervention phases were adapted and modified from the picture exchange communication system (PECS) (Bondy and Frost, 1994, Frost and Bondy, 2002). Results of this study support that children diagnosed with ASD can acquire skills needed to request preferred items using the iPad® with the Proloquo2Go™ application with training of a picture-based communication system. In addition, vocal requesting increased for the participants during the training phases in comparison to baseline probes.     

Collateral effects of mand training for children with autism

Proponents of the verbal behavior approach to instruction for individuals with autism have identified mand training as a starting point for early intervention. Mand training is a process whereby the learner is taught to request highly preferred items under conditions when those items are most valuable. A hypothesized benefit of this approach is that mand training has a collateral effect on nontargeted behavior, though empirical support for this hypothesis is currently tenuous. The present investigation examined the collateral effects of vocal mand training compared to vocal request training for 3 previously nonvocal children with autism. Levels of orienting toward a speaker, compliance with instruction, and overall problem behavior were measured across experimental conditions and analyzed using an alternating treatment design. Results indicate that problem behavior for all participants occurred at lower levels during mand training than request training and that the level of nontargeted social behavior (i.e., orienting and compliance) was higher during mand training for 2 participants and was similar across both conditions for the final participant. The results support the hypothesis that mand training can have a collateral impact on nontargeted behavior, though explicit instruction of social behaviors may also need to be embedded within mand training procedures.     

The effect of motivating operations on the transfer from tacts to mands for children diagnosed with autism

This study examined the effect of motivating operations (MO) on the emergence of a mand following tact training. Two children with autism were taught to tact a high-preferred (HP) edible identified through a preference assessment. The children were then tested to see if a mand for the HP edible emerged under deprivation (24+ h) and pre-session exposure (immediately prior to the mand test) test conditions. Following tact training, both participants manded for the HP edible in the deprivation condition but little to no responding occurred in the pre-session exposure condition. The results from this study suggest that a tact-to-mand transfer may occur under certain conditions.     

Response covariation. The relationship between correct academic responding and problem behavior.

This article examined the relationship between the accuracy of academic responding and aggression for two boys with mild mental retardation. Their teacher reported low rates of correct responding and high rates of aggressive behavior during spelling instruction. A functional analysis showed that aggression was escape maintained. Following the functional analysis, participants were tested on relations between printed, photographic, and dictated stimuli corresponding to their spelling words. On pretests, they were unable to match printed words to their photographs or to their dictated names; they could neither name the printed words nor spell the photographs or dictated words. High rates of aggression were observed during the pretests. The participants then were taught the letter-by-letter construction of the appropriate words when shown photographs. On posttests, the participants correctly matched printed words to their photographs and dictated names. In addition, they correctly named printed words and spelled dictated words orally. Data showed that rates of problem behavior negatively covaried with improvements in the participants' academic responding.     

Contriving motivating operations to evoke mands for information in preschoolers with autism

Four preschoolers with autism participated in the study. Stimulus preference assessments were conducted to identify high and low preferred items, which were then hidden or given to an adult in order to contrive motivation for the information about the location of the items. The first experiment involved the manipulation of motivating operations to evoke the mand “Where is it?” Upon successful acquisition of this initial mand for information, students participated in a second experiment involving the manipulation of a motivating operation to evoke the mand “Who has it?” All participants successfully acquired the ability to mand for information.     

Teaching requesting and rejecting sequences to four children with developmental disabilities using augmentative and alternative communication

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of teaching an integrated requesting–rejecting sequence. Four children with developmental disabilities were taught to request missing items and reject wrong items using either speech-generating devices (SGD) or picture-exchange (PE) communication. Data showed that the introduction of the teaching procedures were associated with acquisition of the targeted requesting and rejecting responses. The newly acquired rejecting responses generalized across two untrained activities and were maintained for up to four weeks following intervention for three of the four participants. The missing-item and wrong-item formats can be successfully combined to teach an integrated sequence of requesting and rejecting to students with developmental disabilities who use speech-generating devices (SGD) or picture-exchange (PE) communication.     

Contextual control over derived relational responding in a teenager with autism

The derived relational repertoire of a teenager with autism spectrum disorder was tested in two slightly different contexts using a multiple treatments reversal design. Both contexts involved match-to-sample training and testing with abstract stimuli, but one involved referring to the stimuli as the names and sounds of “animals.” In the latter context, training of baseline relations was more efficient and derivation was shown to be more likely. This demonstrates the importance of contextual control over derived relational responding and suggests that the animal context may be a useful one for assessing and training derived relations for individuals in which the derived relational repertoire is not as robustly established across contexts.     

Facilitating requesting skills using high-tech augmentative and alternative communication devices with individuals with autism spectrum disorders: A systematic review

We conducted a systematic review to identify research studies that utilised high-tech devices (e.g., smartphone technology) to teach functional requesting skills to individuals under the age of 16 with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We identified 16 studies that included a total of 46 participants. Speech generating devices were the most frequently employed mode of communication, the most frequently requested items were preferred food or toys, and the maximum number of target-requesting skills taught was eight. Research has tended to utilise the multiple baseline design or a variant thereof (e.g., a multiple-probe design). Overall, the intervention results were largely positive, suggesting that high-tech devices can be successfully implemented as augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices for individuals with autism. Further research is needed to evaluate the claims made about high-tech AAC devices in facilitating requesting skills in children with ASD.     

Methodological considerations in the use of standardized motor assessment tools for children with autism spectrum disorder: A scoping review

BackgroundThis scoping review identified methodological parameters affecting evaluation when administering standardized motor assessment tools among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).MethodPubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Scopus, ERIC and Web of Science were searched for English-language articles published 1/1990–8/2022. Studies of children with ASD, 3–18-years old, using performance-based standardized motor assessment tools, were included. ASD sample characteristics, enrollment criteria, accommodations and missing motor outcome data were synthesized.ResultsAmong 5,432 references, 180 studies using 11 assessments were included. The most frequently used tools were the Movement Assessment Battery for Children, Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency and the Test of Gross Motor Development. Large-scale studies were lacking, and girls underrepresented. Low cognitive level was an exclusion criterion explicitly or as a related criterion in 87 (48%) studies. Behavioral issues were noted anecdotally. Methodological detail varied, particularly regarding missing data, administrators’ professions, training and inter-rater reliability. Seventy-four studies reported a total of 197 accommodations, related mainly to modifications of the tasks, accommodations to the testing procedure and changes in the physical setting in which the test was conducted.ConclusionsThe findings, building on previous reports, indicate that children and adolescents with ASD cannot be approached uniformly over the entire spectrum of intelligence (IQ) and behavioral profiles in motor assessments. Administration challenges may stem from ASD characteristics beyond cognitive ability. Inconsistency relating to the IQ variable and incomplete methodological reports continue to be obstacles to comparative conclusions. ASD-specific versions of the tools with a supplementary report, describing cooperation, off-task behaviors and engagement, and combining several tools are recommended. This review could inform development of guidelines regarding motor assessments for children with ASD.     

Correlating derived relational responding with linguistic and cognitive ability in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Many children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) show substantial deficits in linguistic and cognitive ability. When considered from the perspective of Relational Frame Theory (RFT), it is possible that these deficits are rooted in a deficiency in the capacity to derive relations. One key aim of the Training and Assessment of Relational Precursors and Abilities (TARPA) protocol is to assess derived relational responding. A number of previous studies have shown correlations between TARPA performance and linguistic ability in children with ASD. The current study has extended this work by (i) showing correlations between TARPA performance and cognitive as well as linguistic ability in a larger (n = 35) sample of children with ASD; (ii) providing evidence of TARPA test–retest reliability; (iii) providing additional evidence indicating differences in visual and auditory performance in children with ASD.     

An Eye-Movement Study of relational Memory in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Persons with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) demonstrate good memory for single items but difficulties remembering contextual information related to these items. Recently, we found compromised explicit but intact implicit retrieval of object-location information in ASD (Ring et al. Autism Res 8(5):609–619, 2015). Eye-movement data collected from a sub-sample of the participants are the focus of the current paper. At encoding, trial-by-trial viewing durations predicted subsequent retrieval success only in typically developing (TD) participants. During retrieval, TD compared to ASD participants looked significantly longer at previously studied object-locations compared to alternative locations. These findings extend similar observations recently reported by Cooper et al. (Cognition 159:127–138, 2017a) and demonstrate that eye-movement data can shed important light on the source and nature of relational memory difficulties in ASD.     

Three children with autism spectrum disorder learn to perform a three-step communication sequence using an iPad®-based speech-generating device

BackgroundMany children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have limited or absent speech and might therefore benefit from learning to use a speech-generating device (SGD). The purpose of this study was to evaluate a procedure aimed at teaching three children with ASD to use an iPad^®-based SGD to make a general request for access to toys, then make a specific request for one of two toys, and then communicate a thank-you response after receiving the requested toy.MethodA multiple-baseline across participants design was used to determine whether systematic instruction involving least-to-most-prompting, time delay, error correction, and reinforcement was effective in teaching the three children to engage in this requesting and social communication sequence. Generalization and follow-up probes were conducted for two of the three participants.ResultsWith intervention, all three children showed improvement in performing the communication sequence. This improvement was maintained with an unfamiliar communication partner and during the follow-up sessions.ConclusionWith systematic instruction, children with ASD and severe communication impairment can learn to use an iPad-based SGD to complete multi-step communication sequences that involve requesting and social communication functions.     

Investigating the validity of a structured interview protocol for assessing the preferences of children with autism spectrum disorders

Purpose: To investigate the congruent validity of a structured interview protocol for assessing the preferences of seven children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Method: Using the structured interview protocol described by Green et al., parents were asked to provide a rank ordering of their child's preferred foods, drinks, toys and sensory stimuli. The resulting rank order was then compared to the results of a multiple-stimulus without replacement preference assessment by calculating the Spearman rank order correlation coefficients.

Results: The results revealed a high level of correspondence between the rank orderings of both assessments for four of the six participants for food and drink items and four of the seven participants for play items and sensory stimuli.

Conclusion: Results support the use of the structured interview protocol to determine the preferences of children with ASD. Practical implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

A further evaluation of the effects of listener training on derived categorization and speaker behavior in children with autism

Previous research has shown that children with autism may accurately categorize visual stimuli after learning to both tact (i.e., speaker behavior) and receptively discriminate (i.e., listener behavior) them using common category names. The purpose of the current study was to further evaluate the effects of category listener training alone on the development of Visual Categorization and Category Tacts with four children diagnosed with autism. We administered standardized language assessments to evaluate participants’ skills prior to beginning the study and used a non-concurrent multiple-baseline design across participants. Two of the participants whose language assessments identified both speaker and listener scores greater than 36 months, passed Visual Categorization and Category Tact testing with previously unfamiliar stimuli following Category Listener training. The two participants whose language assessments identified a deficit in either speaker or listener scores failed Visual Categorization and Category Tact testing following Category Listener training. These results suggest that both speaker and listener behavior may be required for the emergence of untrained categorization and tacting following listener training.     

Establishing deictic repertoires in autism

Derived relational responding is an increasingly researched topic in the behavioral sciences. Deictic frames, among other forms of relational responding, have been found to underlie complex behavior, including perspective-taking. Researchers have developed procedures for training children, with and without disabilities, to demonstrate relational responding. Recent extensions of these teaching procedures incorporated more naturalistic contexts as an avenue for establishing these repertoires, but the efficacy of these new procedures for children with disabilities and the degree to which these improvements generalize have not yet been explored. The purpose of this study was to determine if relational repertoires could be established using newer, more naturalistic teaching procedures in children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder and to what degree improvements would generalize to another adult. Results indicated that all participants met criteria for mastery on all levels of relational complexity. Additionally, all three children demonstrated generalization of these repertoires to a novel adult following training to mastery. The results suggest that an intervention approach utilizing a Barnes-Holmes protocol in a story reading context was effective for establishing deictic repertoires in children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder.     

Assessing the acquisition and generalization of two mand forms with adults with severe developmental disabilities

The purpose of this study was to determine whether manual sign or the Picture Exchange Communication System (P.E.C.S.) (Frost and Bondy, 1994) would be more effective in teaching mand skills to adults with mental retardation in the severe and profound range. Four participants were taught to mand for four reinforcing items using both communication modalities, in an alternating treatments design. Three of four participants demonstrated criterion performance across all four mands using P.E.C.S. first. Two of those three participants later demonstrated criterion performance for the mands using manual sign. The fourth participant was removed from the study during training due to illness, but her progress indicated greater acquisition with P.E.C.S. Generalization probes conducted at participants' respective residences showed that three participants demonstrated generalization across settings using P.E.C.S., and two participants demonstrated generalization across settings using manual sign. Participants were also more likely to mand for reinforcing items not present using P.E.C.S. than using manual sign.     

Promoting generalization of mands for information used by young children with autism

We investigated the extent to which mands for information taught using structured teaching trials (i.e., verbal discriminative stimulus, verbal prompts, and programmed consequences) while contriving the establishing operations to young children with autism generalized to novel stimuli and settings. Three students with autism participated in this study and were taught to mand for information using “where” during structured teaching trials. We conducted generalization probes in a hierarchical fashion to determine the extent to which generalization occurred. Manding for information did not completely generalize to natural settings when specific verbal cues were removed and that training in the natural setting in the absence of verbal cues was required for all three participants before generalized responding occurred.     

Derived emergence of WH question–answers in children with autism

Children with autism spectrum disorder often struggle to respond to conversational questions involving words such as “who,” “what,” and “where.” One reason for this may be that answering these types of questions requires a repertoire of relational responding in which the individual must select an answer based on the class memberships of stimuli found in the question. For example, answering the question, “Who do you see at the hospital?” requires identifying a potential response that is in coordination with both “who” and “hospital,” e.g., a doctor. The present study sought to examine this premise by providing training designed to promote relational responding to community associations, associations of noun types, and associations between wh- words and noun types. Three participants diagnosed with autism, between the ages of 10 and 12, were exposed to a multi-phase relational training sequence designed to establish equivalence class membership between community helper stimuli, noun-class stimuli, and wh- word relations using protocols from the PEAK Relational Training System (Dixon, 2015. PEAK relational training system: Equivalence module. Shawnee Scientific Press: Carbondale, IL; Dixon, in press. PEAK relational training system: Transformation module. Shawnee Scientific Press: Carbondale, IL). A concurrent multiple baseline across skills and participants design was used to evaluate the functional relationship between the establishment of these relations and the emergence of correct responding to wh- questions. Results indicated that for two of the three participants, mastery of these relations was functionally related to the emergence of accurate responding to untrained intraverbal wh- questions.