Morien_ABAI_2010s

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The Effec ts of TAGteac h Methods onSign Langua ge Ob jec t-Naming Skills

in Non-voc a l Child ren w ith Autism

Megan Morien, John W. Eshleman, Ed .D, BCBA-D& Susan K. Ma lmquist, Ph.D, BCBA-D

Copyright 2010 by Meg an Mo rien


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Introduction

Ma ny c hild ren d iagnosed with a utism possess a limited verba lrep ertoire, though sign language ha s been shown to b e a n

effec tive me thod for tea c hing ma ny such verba l skills (Clarke,Remington & Light , 1968; Sund berg & Parting ton, 1990/1998; Thompson, Tincani, 2004;Wallac e, Iwata & Hanley, 2006; Contno ir-Bic helma n, Mc Kercha r, & Danc ho, 2007).

Sundberg and Parting ton (1990) in pa rtic ula r reported tha twhen tea c hing individua ls with develop menta l delays, signlangua ge tra ining c an be ac quired a t a faster ra te and w ith

more ac c ura te respond ing c ompared to other non-voc a lmethods of c ommunic a tion (e.g ., pointing to p ic tures).

Given tha t sign language enta ils quic k hand movements,delivering immed ia te reinforc ing c onseq uenc es follow ing aresponse sometimes may prove d iffic ult.

A delay in the p resenta tion of a positive reinforc er mayinadvertently p rovide reinforc ement to a n unintend ed

beha vior, or a ttenua te the reinforc ing effec ts of the delayed

consequence.


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Introduction Response-reinforc ement essentially ind ic a tes tha t the longer the

delay betw een the response a nd the reinforc ement, the lesseffec tive the reinforc em ent will be in inc rea sing the future

freq uenc y of the reinforc ed beha vior (Mic ha el, 2004, p. 30).

To b ridge the gap between an orga nism emitting a ta rge tbeha vior and the p resenta tion o f reinforc ement, the field of anima l

resea rc h has experienc ed muc h suc c ess using aud itory stimuli asc ond itioned reinforc ers (i.e., c lic ker tra ining) (Pryor, Hag g, & OReilly, 1969;Ferguson & Rosa les-Ruiz, 2001; Fjellang er, Andersen, & Mc Lean, 2002; Pryor, 1999, 2005).

Teac hing by Ac oustica l Guidanc e (TAG) rep resents an extension ofc lic ker tra ining tha t uses an aud ito ry ma rker (e.g ., c lic k, c hirp , p ing ,

and trill sound s) to b ridge the g ap between the desired responseand the p resenta tion of reinforc em ent to assist in the lea rning of

new beha viors in huma ns (Ueda, 2006; Gutierrez, 2007; Maendler, Wasano, 2008;Eshlem an & Cihon, 2009; Va rga s, 2009).

TAG c an p rovide truly imm ed ia te c onseq uenc es follow ing a g ivenmovement.


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Method ParticipantsA: 6 year old ma le with a d iagnosis of autismB: 7 year old ma le w ith a d iagnosis of autismC: 9 year old ma le with a d iagnosis of autism

SettingEmpty c lassroom w ithin the sc hool environment

MaterialsThe Clic ker+, dig ita l timer, antec ed ent c a rds, ca rd ea sel,

adhesive stickers, da ta sheets, 3 c olored shirts, and va rious

preferred items and ac tivities

Depend ent Variab les Indep end ent ob jec t-naming signs emitted by partic ipantTota l number of prompts presented within session


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Method Experimenta l Design: Multie lement Design

TAG:The p rinc ipa l investiga tor tagged a ll oc c urrenc es of correc tsigning beha vior and p resente d a bac kup reinforc er, whic h inc ludesdesc rip tive p ra ise sta tements in a dd ition to p refe rred items or ac tivities.

Co ntingent Reinforc em ent (CR): Desc rip tive p ra ise sta tements pa iredwith p referred items or ac tivities (i.e., bac k-up reinforc ers) we re

presented c ontingent upon the oc c urrenc e o f correc t signing beha vior.

Noncontingent Reinforcement (NCR):The p rinc ipa l investiga torp rovided ac c ess to p referred item s and gene ra l p ra ise sta tem ents on a

fixed-time sc hedule of 30 sec ond s.

Procedure 10 signing tria ls were c onduc ted during eac h session. Simulta neously visua l c ues (i.e., p ic ture c a rds) and voc a l c ommand s

(e.g., Sign Fish ) were p resented to the pa rtic ipant as antec ed ents for

the ta rget beha vior (i.e., sign the c orrespond ing wo rd ).

If the p artic ipant failed to emit the ta rget b eha vior indep end ently, theprompt a ssista nt p rovided minima l p rompting (i.e., lea st-to-most).


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Results

Partic ipant NCR CR TAG

A 100% 97.5% 97.5%

B 100% 100% 98%

C 97.5% 97.5% 100%%

Interobserver Ag reement Collec ted throug hout a t lea st 30% of a ll sessions

Trea tment Integrity Treatment integrity was assessed during at least 30% of the sessions and

totaled 100% across all experimental conditions to ensure that theindependent variable (i.e., CR, TAG and NCR) was introduced correctly.

Social Validity Parents of all participants reported that TAG was an appropriate

intervention to use with their children.

Teachers of all participants reported that their students became moresocial with staff and peers through the use of appropriate signs, gesturesand vocalizations.


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Results

Participant

Trea tment Condition

NCR CR TAG

A 0 3 14

B 26 58 55

C 1 12 40

Tota l 27 73 109

Independent Ob jec t-Nam ing Signing ResponsesTota l numb er of indep end ent responses em itted by partic ipants

per trea tment cond ition


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Results


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Results


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Results


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Results

Participant

Trea tment Condition

NCR CR TAG

A 309 288 285

B 266 154 202

C 284 245 176

Tota l 859 687 663

Prompts

Tota l numb er of p rompts p resented to pa rtic ipants during ea c htrea tment c ond ition


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ResultsTota l numb er of p rom pts p resented to p artic ipant A during eac h promp t hierarc hy

level

Tota l numb er of promp ts p resented to p artic ipant B during ea c h prompt hierarc hylevel

Key: HOH-Dark Blue, PM-Red, FM-Green, D2D- Purple, PM-Light Blue, G -Orang e


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ResultsTota l number of prompts p resented to partic ipant C during ea c h p rompt

hierarchy leve l

Key: HOH-Dark Blue, PM-Red, FM-Green, D2D- Purple, PM-Light Blue, G -Orang e

The mo st e ffic ient reinforc ement tec hnique would show moreprompting in gesture a nd partia l mo deling and less in the p romptstha t req uire more intrusive assista nc e (e.g., D2D, FM, PPA and HOH).

Overa ll, the g rea test a mo unt of p rom pts req uired wa s in the partia lmodel leve l. Thus, stud ents req uired a gesture and partia l model

p rompt p rior to em itting the c orrespond ing ob jec t-naming response.


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Disc ussion Results of the present stud y a re c onsistent with Ma end ler et a l. (2009),

whic h found TAG to b e a mo re e ffec tive and immed ia tereinforc ement method than CR a lone or NCR c ond itions.

Partic ipants within the c urrent study ac hieved more independ entresponse d uring the TAG and CR cond itions, which further sup portsthe imp ortanc e o f de livery of reinforc ers.

Limitations Number of sessions c ond uc ted per week Role o f the experimente r Antic ipa tion of p artic ipants em itting the c orrec t response Lac k of d isc rimina tion b etw een cond itions

Future Researc h Co nduc t a ll cond itions per session to c rea te more lea rning

opportunities

Prompting most-to-least vs. least-to-most TAGteac h with different popula tions, environments or ta rget

behaviors

Extend to other produc ts: The Clic ker+TM, i-Clic k, Box c licker, etc .


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