Teaching complex social skills to children with autism; advances of video modeling

Although there has been a corresponding explosion of literature regarding the treatment of the social deficits in autism, the establishment of more complex social behaviors still remains a challenge. Video modeling appears as one approach to have the potential to successfully address this challenge. Following an introduction to modeling that constitutes the basis of this procedure, the current paper explores those video modeling studies that have targeted the promotion of complex social skills. It is suggested that this approach could be an effective addition to peer-mediated treatment procedures, especially for children with autism who cannot always be in environments where peers are present. Further, the likely success of video modeling seems to be dependent upon the prior elimination of behaviors that interfere with the development of imitation skills

THE REINFORCEMENTS OF LANGUAGE DEFICIT IN AUTISTIC CHILD THROUGH APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS (ABA) METHOD

Abstract In recent decades the number of people diagnosed as autism has increased massively to an estimated number of 1 in 100. In Indonesia itself the number of autistic children has increased every year. However, the curing of children with autism is still relatively low, especially the autistic people who live in villages (inland) of Indonesia since the low education in that area. That’s why the parents need more understanding about how to treat their autistic children to develop their language deficit like other normal children. This study would discuss the reinforcements of language deficit in autistic child that was done through applied behavior analysis (ABA) method. It occurred to Dylan, an autistic child of 3 years old in which his language developed more slowly than others and need some language reinforcements through ABA method to communicate with others.The primary of this study is two questions; (1) What are the categories of verbal operant in Dylan’s language development in using ABA method? (2) How does Dylans language developmental result in using ABA method? To finish this study, the method applied was mix method which is descriptive qualitative used to answer RQ 1 with documentation technique since it is in the form of videos while quantitative to answer RQ 2 with Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (VB-MAPP) by Sundberg. In this study, the theory of Verbal Behavior using verbal operant by Skinner of language development in psycholinguistics point of view was applied to analyze the data. The finding showed that among video 1 (V1) to video 4 (V4) data some categories of verbal operant (VO) were used as positive reinforcements there were mand, echoic, tact, intraverbal and other category which did not exist in the verbal operant but the researcher categorized it as “gestural” and “verbal tact” as new categories. Thus, through VB-MAPP Milestones result it can be seen that Dylan’s verbal behavior got development and he was able to maintain what he had learned before. However, the total transition scores of VB-MAPP milestones form, barriers form and negative behavior and instructional control among all of videos data were average 1 it meant Dylan still had to practice more and learned some categories such as textual and transcriptions which were not applied yet to acquire the skills needed for studying in a less restrictive educational environment. Keywords: Autism, Verbal Operant (VO), Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (VB-MAPP

The Effectiveness of Naturalistic Sign Language Training for Nonspeaking Individuals on the Autism Spectrum

This study examined the impacts of sign language training on the communication of two adult brothers with level 3 autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A single-subject, multiple-baseline design was used. Sign language targets were selected based on a parent survey and the participants’ predicted motivation towards the target items. The baseline and intervention were conducted naturalistically in the home. Results indicated that the individual, environment, target signs, reinforcement, and motivation are all factors that play into sign language acquisition for nonspeaking individuals with ASD

Is Storytelling Therapy Useful for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Severe Mental Retardation?

Numerous studies highlight the importance of therapeutic context when learning social skills for young ASD patients. Therapy approaches become more complex when the situation involves young ASD patients with a severe mental disability. Indeed, when working with this population, it is difficult to get their attention and have them mimic actions (through video modeling, for example) or interact with peers on a playground. Nevertheless, our study tried to demonstrate the possibility of working on the social skills of young ASD patients with a severe mental disability using a therapeutic storytelling approach. The study involved 10 children (average age of 10.6 +/- 2 years). All study participants were diagnosed with ASD and severe mental retardation. 62 sessions divided across two years and twenty repeated assessments were taken during this study, and the results obtained show that the children learned, in a significant way, to imitate the story's actions. They also significantly reduced their behavioral issues. A physiological assessment (eye-tracking) was taken both pre and post-test during the storytelling workshop. The results obtained confirmed a significant increase in attention given to the storytelling scene

Neural Dynamic Movement Primitives -- a survey

One of the most important challenges in robotics is producing accurate trajectories and controlling their dynamic parameters so that the robots can perform different tasks. The ability to provide such motion control is closely related to how such movements are encoded. Advances on deep learning have had a strong repercussion in the development of novel approaches for Dynamic Movement Primitives. In this work, we survey scientific literature related to Neural Dynamic Movement Primitives, to complement existing surveys on Dynamic Movement Primitives

Evaluation of a Computer-Based Observer-Effect Training on Mothers\u27 Vocal Imitation of Their Infant

Infants begin to learn important skills, such as contingency learning, social referencing, and joint attention through everyday interactions with their environment. When infants learn that their behavior produces a change in the environment (e.g., attention from others), infants engage in behavior that produces that effect (e.g., increases in smiling sustained engagement. When mothers and other caregivers respond immediately to infant behavior, they help their infant learn that the infant’s own behavior is effective, producing a change in the environment. The current investigation evaluated the effect of a computer-based training that aimed at teaching mothers to play a vocal-imitation contingency-learning game. The training included observer-effect methodology, meaning the mothers engaged in observation and evaluation of other mothers engaging in vocal imitation but did not themselves receive any direct coaching or feedback. All mothers completed the training during one session and in less than 45 min. Results indicate that all mothers increased their use of vocal imitation post training and maintained their performance at a two-week follow-up. Results are discussed in terms of how computer training may facilitate dissemination of responsive caregiver training

Learning Task Constraints from Demonstration for Hybrid Force/Position Control

We present a novel method for learning hybrid force/position control from demonstration. We learn a dynamic constraint frame aligned to the direction of desired force using Cartesian Dynamic Movement Primitives. In contrast to approaches that utilize a fixed constraint frame, our approach easily accommodates tasks with rapidly changing task constraints over time. We activate only one degree of freedom for force control at any given time, ensuring motion is always possible orthogonal to the direction of desired force. Since we utilize demonstrated forces to learn the constraint frame, we are able to compensate for forces not detected by methods that learn only from the demonstrated kinematic motion, such as frictional forces between the end-effector and the contact surface. We additionally propose novel extensions to the Dynamic Movement Primitive (DMP) framework that encourage robust transition from free-space motion to in-contact motion in spite of environment uncertainty. We incorporate force feedback and a dynamically shifting goal to reduce forces applied to the environment and retain stable contact while enabling force control. Our methods exhibit low impact forces on contact and low steady-state tracking error.Comment: Under revie