AN EVALUATION OF TEACHING METHODOLOGIES AT INCREASING DERIVED RELATIONAL RESPONDING IN CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES

• Main Author: Rainford, Chantal
• Format: Others
• Published: OpenSIUC 2018
• Subjects: Autism; behavior analysis; methodology; PEAK; relational responding; test trials
• Online Access: https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/theses/2428; https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3442&context=theses

The present study sought to examine the use of two teaching procedures as methods of increasing relational responding in children with developmental disabilities. We compared one procedure that presented test probes for combinatory entailment and transformation of function probes throughout the acquisition of directly trained A-B and B-C relations. In the second procedure test probes were withheld until the learner achieved mastery criteria for the directly trained A-B and B-C relations. Results show that all three participants achieved mastery criterion across both procedures and demonstrated the emergence of mutual entailment, combinatory entailment, and transformation of stimulus function. The presentation of entailed and transformation probes resulted in faster acquisition of directly trained and test relations. An account of current research and implications of these findings is provided.