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Effects Of Modeling Varied Responses And Programming Lag Contingencies On Varied Responding During Discrete-Trial Instruction, Sean P. Peterson

Theses & Dissertations

Children with autism often require direct instruction to learn skills (e.g., discrete-trial instruction [DTI]). Despite its advantages, DTI has been criticized for producing rote responding (e.g., Cihon, 2007). Although there is little research supporting this claim, if true, this may be problematic given the propensity of children with autism to engage in restricted and repetitive behavior (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). In Experiment 1, we evaluated the effects of modeling rote versus varied target responses during DTI on producing varied responding and efficiency of skill acquisition in learning intraverbal categorizations. For all four children, all increases in varied responding were temporary, …