Data Mining Techniques to Study Therapy Success with Autistic Children

Autism spectrum disorder has become one of the most prevalent developmental disorders, characterized by a wide variety of symptoms. Many children need extensive therapy for years to improve their behavior and facilitate integration in society. However, few systematic evaluations are done on a large scale that can provide insights into how, where, and how therapy has an impact. We describe how data mining techniques can be used to provide insights into behavioral therapy as well as its effect on participants. To this end, we are developing a digital library of coded video segments that contains data on appropriate and inappropriate behavior of autistic children in different social settings during different stages of therapy and. In general, we found that therapy increased appropriate behavior and decreased inappropriate behavior. Decision trees and association rules provided more detailed insights for high and low levels of appropriate and inappropriate behavior. We found that a child\u27s interaction with a parent or therapist led to especially high levels of appropriate behavior and behavior is most predictable while therapy is in progress

Non-verbal Communication with Autistic Children Using Digital Libraries

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has become one of the most prevalent mental disorders over the last few years and its prevalence is still growing. The disorder is characterized by a wide variety of symptoms such as lack of social behavior, extreme withdrawal, and problems communicating. Because of the diversity in symptoms and the wide variety in severity for those, each autistic child has different needs and requires individualized therapy. This leads to long waiting lists for therapy

How to Do Incidental Teaching

Incidental teaching (IT) is a naturalistic teaching method that encourages involvement of parents, peers, and siblings in instructional activities and treatment. IT is designed to facilitate and extend skill generalization and maintenance. IT makes systematic use of natural reinforcement, in that learners receive reinforcement for correct and desired responses and behaviors. This book provides proper procedures and instructions in teaching and maintaining the learned skills.https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_facbooks/1017/thumbnail.jp

Setting Effects on the Occurrence of Autistic Children\u27s Immediate Echolalia

This study was designed to assess the effects of setting familiarity on autistic children\u27s immediate echolalia. Six autistic boys were presented with a receptive labeling task in several settings varying in familiarity of person, room, and task stimuli. The amount of immediate echolalia emitted during the task in each of the settings was recorded. The results indicated that the greatest amount of echolalia occurred in settings in which an unfamiliar person presented unfamiliar task stimuli. The second greatest amount of echolalia occurred when a familiar person presented the unfamiliar stimuli. The results are discussed in terms of previous literature, classroom design, and treatment procedures for autistic children

S+ versus S− Fading in Prompting Procedures with Autistic Children

The purpose of this investigation was to assess the relative effectiveness of two prompt-fading procedures for teaching difficult visual discriminations to autistic children. Both prompt procedures involved within-stimulus fading where manipulation occurred on the relevant component of the discrimination. One procedure involved fading first along the S+ stimulus, while holding the S− stimulus constant. The other procedure involved fading first along the S− stimulus, while holding the S+ stimulus constant. Eight autistic children were each taught two discriminations, one by each of the prompt procedures. Results indicated that for all but one child, the discriminations were acquired significantly faster, with fewer errors, when the S+ stimulus was faded first. These findings are related to the literature on the effects of stimulus novelty on selection and learning

Modified Incidental Teaching Sessions: A Procedure for Parents to Increase Spontaneous Speech in Their Children with Autism

In this study, traditional incidental teaching was modified and a new naturalized parent training speech program, modified incidental teaching sessions (MITS), was designed. We then compared the efficacy of MITS with traditional incidental teaching and discrete trial. Using a multiple baseline design across and within children, with an alternating treatments design, we examined both the acquisition and, more importantly, generalization of target phrases for MITS as well as the comparison methods. Parents of three children with autism were trained to deliver MITS, traditional discrete trial, and incidental teaching in their home. Results indicated that MITS led to acquisition for all children, whereas only one child acquired the behavior with traditional incidental teaching, and two children acquired the behavior with discrete trial. Importantly, MITS also led to the generalization of target phrases, whereas no children generalized the target phrases with the incidental teaching and discrete trial conditions. These promising results are discussed in terms of maximizing the effectiveness of incidental teaching and the potential to provide naturalistic teaching strategies for parents that are associated with rapid and durable treatment gains

Increasing Autistic Children\u27s Daily Spontaneous Speech

We investigated the effectiveness of teaching parents of 3 autistic boys to use a time delay procedure to increase their children\u27s appropriate spontaneous speech in several naturally occurring daily settings (e.g., saying good morning in the morning). Generalization across settings and within settings across persons and locations was assessed. Variation in the children\u27s spontaneous speech was also assessed. In addition procedural errors in the parents\u27 use of time delay were calculated. Results indicated that all children increased their daily spontaneous speech and generalized their speech to other locations and persons

Using Video Modeling to Teach Perspective Taking to Children with Autism

Perspective taking refers to the ability to determine mental states of others in order to explain or predict behavior. In typically developing children, this skill appears around age 4 years (Baron-Cohen, Leslie, & Frith, 1985), but it is delayed or absent in children with autism. In the present study, video modeling was used to teach perspective taking to three children with autism. A multiple-baseline design across children and within child across tasks was used to assess learning. Generalization across untrained similar stimuli was also assessed. Video modeling was a fast and effective tool for teaching perspective-taking tasks to children with autism, resulting in both stimulus and response generalization. These results concurred with previous research that perspective taking can be taught. Unlike other studies, however, wider ranges of generalization were found

Increasing Autistic Children\u27s Spontaneous Verbalizations of Affection: An Assessment of Time Delay and Peer Modeling Procedures

We assessed the efficacy of time delay and peer modeling procedures in increasing autistic children\u27s spontaneous verbalizations of affection. Four autistic children were taught to spontaneously say I like (love) you in response to a hug from a familiar person and their mother. Generalization from a free play training setting to free play outdoors and at home was assessed. Ancillary social and affection behaviors were also observed. Results indicated that the time delay was a quick and effective procedure for all the children. Peer modeling was unsuccessful in teaching the target behavior