We investigated a procedure to increase the selection of larger, more delayed reinforcers (i.e., more advantageous in the long run) over smaller immediate reinforcers, in an effort to increase a key aspect of self-control in children. Six preschoolers, including one comparison subject, identified by their teachers as impulsive, were preassessed and found consistently to select smaller immediate reinforcers over larger, more delayed ones. The teaching procedure consisted of gradually increasing the durations of the delay interval over many sessions. The follow-up assessments showed that 5 of these children increased the proportion of their choices of the delayed reinforcers. Before training, indifference points ranged from 1.7 to 51.7 s; following treatment, points rose to a range of 37.5 to at least 90 s, with 3 children preferring the larger reinforcer at all delay intervals tested. The results demonstrated the feasibility of teaching young children to make choices more advantageous to them in the long run.
The purpose of this study was to determine whether three preschool children with autism or autistic-like behaviors would learn and generalize pretend play activities targeted at two different play levels-a developmentally appropriate (DA) level and an age appropriate (AA) level-differently. The children's readiness for the DA play level was assessed with the Developmental Play Assessment (DPA) instrument (Lifter, Edwards, Avery, Anderson, & Sulzer-Azaroff, 1968). We taught individual exemplars from the two different play levels one at a time, to each of the children, in a sequential treatments design. In contrast to the consistently acquired DA activities, the activities of the AA category apparently were more difficult, and in most cases, they were not acquired In addition, the children were less likely to generalize the AA skills to other activities or toys. The results are discussed in terms of (a) the importance of developmental considerations in selecting instructional objectives, and (b) the usefulness of directly teaching play activities to children with developmental disabilities.Play is regarded as the "work" of childhood, and accordingly serves several important functions in development. As children engage in play activities they leam about objects and events, leam language for talking about these objects and events, and develop a range of interactions with parents and peers (Garvey,
This study evaluated peer incidental teaching as a strategy for increasing reciprocal peer interactions by children with autism. Three typical preschoolers were trained as peer tutors for 3 young children with autism. During a classroom free-play session, peer tutors used incidental teaching to obtain verbal labels of preferred toys by children with autism. A multiple baseline across the 3 target children showed replicated positive effects of the intervention. Adult supervision and assistance were then faded systematically, with resulting maintenance of increased reciprocal interactions. Multiple measures of the extent and limits of generalization suggested that 1 child increased interactions in free-play periods throughout the day, but none of the children showed increases at lunch. Teacher and peer ratings supported the social validity of positive findings.
Preference for larger-delayed versus more immediate-smaller rewards was studied in 5- and 6-year-old typical boys with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in a repeated measure design. The effect of adding stimulation on preference also was studied. Boys with ADHD chose delayed-larger rewards significantly less than did typical boys. Adding stimulation reduced motoric behavior, but did not affect choice. As rates of motoric activity increased in boys with ADHD, their preference for delayed, larger rewards decreased over time. These findings argue for the external validity of choice tasks in the study of ADHD.
Originally designed to enable young children with autism lacking functional communication to initiate requests and to describe what they observed, the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) has been the subject of an ever-expanding body of research and development. Thirty-four peer-reviewed published reports on PECS are analyzed in this article with documentation of research questions, methodology, and results. Findings suggest that PECS is providing people around the globe who have no or impaired speech with a functional means of communication. Refinements in methodology and additional questions that might be addressed in future research are discussed.
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