Verbal Behavior Analysis on Pronoun Use by a Child with Autism

ECU Author/Contributor (non-ECU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)

Albee Therese Santillan Ongsuco (Creator)

Institution

East Carolina University (ECU )

Web Site: http://www.ecu.edu/lib/

Advisor

Jeannie Golden

Abstract: There are limited studies that outline prompt-based methods in teaching pronouns to children with autism. The Verbal Behavior Analysis (VBA) approach is a good fit for teaching pronouns because of its emphasis on the acquisition and correct usage of verbal operants used in social exchanges. This study investigated the effects of a VBA-based multicomponent package treatment (i.e. contingent reinforcement and textual and echoic prompts) on correct pronoun use by a child with autism using a multiple baseline across four stimulus sets design. The results demonstrated that the child's responses among four stimulus sets were variable indicating the lack of confidence in effectiveness of the intervention. Evidence of the reliability of the dependent and independent variables was not demonstrated and made conclusions very limited. However the intervention possesses face and social validity in light of social cognition problems faced by children with autism. Replication with adequate internal controls is suggested for future research. 

Additional Information

Publication

Thesis

Date: 2010

Keywords

Psychology, Behavioral, Psychology, Special education, Autism, intraverbals, prompts, pronouns, single-subject design, verbal behavior analysis

Subjects

Autistic children--Education

Autistic children--Language

English language--Pronoun

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