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A Parametric Analysis of the Number of Conditional Discriminations Taught Concurrently to Children with ASD
Presenter: Courtney Arrington
Mentor: Mirela Cengher (Psychology)
Abstract:
Many children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have delayed academic and language skills. Behavior analytic intervention typically involves teaching a predetermined number of skills at a time to remedy the aforementioned academic and language delays. The purpose of this study is to determine the optimal instructional arrangement for preschoolers diagnosed with ASD. We taught participants to label things in the environment under three conditions: (a) three concurrently taught labels (set size three), (b) six concurrently taught labels (set size 6), and (c) 12 concurrently taught labels (set size 12). We collected data on the duration of training, percentage of correct responses, and number of incorrect responses during language training per condition. Our study is underway; however, previous research suggests that set size 3 and 12 may be the optimal sets for learning. The outcomes of this study will inform the selection of most effective and efficient instructional arrangements for children with ASD.