The present study investigated the use of stimulus-stimulus pairing (SSP) as the first step to build an echoic repertoire with children with no vocal communication skills. We began with echoic probes to establish the child did not have the target sound in their echoic repertoire, then implemented SSP to increase the rate of the target vocalization, and systematically added direct reinforcement, and a delay, until the participant responded in 80% of trials; we then implemented echoic training. We conducted this procedure with 3 young children with autism. This procedure was effective for one of three participants, and her echoic learning history immediately generalized to other sounds. For the other two participants, SSP increased the rate of vocalizations; however, they did not respond in enough trials to move to echoic training before withdrawing from the study. This study provides preliminary evidence for the use of SSP as part of echoic training for children with limited functional communication.
Dissertation
Examining the utility of implementing stimulus-stimulus pairing as the first step to build and echoic repertoire
University of Iowa
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
Summer 2018
DOI: 10.17077/etd.vsciqrx8
Abstract
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Examining the utility of implementing stimulus-stimulus pairing as the first step to build and echoic repertoire
- Creators
- Deva P. Carrion - University of Iowa
- Contributors
- Matthew J. O'Brien (Advisor)Stewart Ehly (Advisor)Susan Assouline (Committee Member)Kathy Schuh (Committee Member)Molly Nikolas (Committee Member)
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
- Degree in
- Psychological and Quantitative Foundations
- Date degree season
- Summer 2018
- DOI
- 10.17077/etd.vsciqrx8
- Publisher
- University of Iowa
- Number of pages
- vi, 76 pages
- Copyright
- Copyright © 2018 Deva P. Carrion
- Language
- English
- Description illustrations
- illustrations
- Description bibliographic
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 60-64).
- Public Abstract (ETD)
The purpose of this study was to increase vocalizations in children with limited functional communication. To do this we paired specific vocalizations emitted by the experimenter with the participants highly preferred items or activities. In doing so, the sound itself becomes reinforcing, and in the absence of the experimenter emitting the sound the participant begins emitting the sound. Once the participant was emitting the sound more frequently, we directly reinforced this behavior. We then added a delay in the pairing procedure to allow the participant the opportunity to echo the sound, and we reinforced each time the participant did so.
We conducted this experiment with three participants, but only one completed all phases. For the one participant who completed the study, these procedures were effective in teaching her to echo sounds and words upon request. We did not obtain clinically significant levels of responding from the other two participants. One participant did not respond after two sounds were targeted, and the other withdrew before the first sound could be completely evaluated. Our results provide preliminary evidence in the effectiveness of this procedure to teach children the first step in building vocal language, echoing the sounds and words of others.
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Quantitative Foundations
- Record Identifier
- 9983776763302771
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