The Conditioning of Language in a Nonverbal Child Conducted in a Special Education Classroom

Abstract

The purpose of this study was twofold: first, to assess the feasibility of conducting speech conditioning sessions within a preschool classroom, and second, to examine the process of transfer of learned verbalizations from those sessions to classroom free time. The results indicated that the former was not only feasible but effective. A nonverbal boy, enrolled in a special education preschool, was taught to imitate reliably six words in 46 15-minute sessions. Furthermore, the child's use of spontaneous whole words during the rest of the classroom day seemed to be responsive to the contingencies of the speech sessions.

Ecolalia Em Psicoses Infantis

“…"Ecolalia imediata" (ou "verdadeira", segundo SIMON, 1975) refere-se à repetição automática imediatamente após a emissão original. "Ecolalia tardia" citada por CHARNEY (1980); KANNER (1944), refere-se à reprodução de emissões ouvidas anteriormente.…”

“…ORNITZ (1972), atribuiu uma caracterís-tica de rigidez às emissões ecolálicas e a esta rigidez estaria associada à presença, frequentemente observada, de inversão pronominal (KANNER, 1944;CHARNEY, 1980;KNOBLOCH e PASAMANICK, 1975); ou seja, uma dificuldade na utilização da primeira pessoa do singular e uma tendência à sua substituição pela terceira pessoa do singular. Alguns autores vêem a ecolalia como um comportamento preservatrivo, equivalente à perseveração motora (AJURIAGUERRA, 1973;BOUTON, 1976), ou auto-erótico (RUTTEM-BERG e WOLF, 1967).…”

“…Muitos autores consideram-nas sem função comunicativa (CHAPMAN e SILVA, 1979;KANNER, 1944;QUIROS, 1975;RUTTER e SCHOPLER, 1981); mencionam um valor hipersimbólico exclusivo (BOUTON, 1976) e observam que as verbalizações geralmente estão associadas a uma experiência individual (CHARNEY, 1980;SIMON, 1975). Nesse sentido, a ecolalia não seria uma simples evocação direta, mas o resultado de associações auditivastáteis-afetivas-visuais-motoras complexas e que podem estender-se no tempo; assim essas emissões não são sem sentido, elas têm significados associados complexos para a criança.…”

Adherence of ASD Children and Adolescents to Language Therapy

“…The first studies about language of autistic children just described whether there was any verbal communication, echolalia (immediate or delayed), pronoun reversal or communication and proposed strategies to avoid inadequate behaviors [1,2]. Pragmatic theories contributed to the notion that the central feature of language in ASD is related to its functional use to communication.…”

The Use of Positive Reinforcement and Stimulus Fading in the Treatment of an Elective Mute

“…He concluded that "elective mutism is not, as has been suggested, a clinical entity, but rather an abnormal psychogenic reaction which may be viewed as learned behaviour, dependent upon a variety of precipitating factors in differing personality types". Some of the more recent American studies describe behavioural approaches to treatment (Straughan et al, 1965;Reid et al, 1967;Nolan and Pence, 1970;Wulbert et al, 1973;Bednar, 1974;Appleman et al, 1975;Adkins, 1975;Nash et al, 1979) but because of the rarity of the condition, literature remains relatively sparse.…”