An Evaluation of the Effects of Adult Social Interaction on Infant Vocalizations

The results of previous studies suggest that infant vocalizations may be sensitive to social interaction as a reinforcer (e.g., Poulson, 1983, 1988; Rheingold, Gewirtz, & Ross, 1959). The purpose of Study 1 was to conduct descriptive analyses to examine teacher-infant interactions in three early education settings to determine (a) the prevalence of vocalizations, (b) the temporal contiguity between infant vocalizations and adult social interaction, and (c) the nature of adult social interaction. The purpose of Study 2 was to replicate the results of previous experimental analyses by demonstrating higher levels of vocalizations in a reinforcement condition as compared to levels of vocalizations in an extinction (EXT) condition. Results of Study 1 showed that (a) levels of vocalizations were similar across classrooms, (b) potential neutral contingencies between social interaction and vocalizations existed in two of the three classrooms, and (c) the nature of adult social interaction varied across the classrooms. Results of Study 2 failed to replicate those of previous research in demonstrating consistently higher levels of vocalizations in the reinforcement condition as compared to levels of vocalizations in the EXT condition. The author discusses potential reasons for this failure to replicate, including the possibility of automatically maintained vocalizations. Additional experimental analyses are necessary to further explain the inconsistent results obtained in Study 2

The role of assessment in identifying effective teaching interventions

Experimental analyses are designed to identify the variables maintaining responding, the results of which can be used to develop a treatment that directly addresses the function of the behavior. Experimental analyses of acquisition are a means to quickly compare treatment alternatives to identify the conditions that are likely to result in child learning. Assessment conditions are typically designed to identify skill versus performance deficits, and a number of variations in experimental arrangement have been reported. The purposes of the current study were to (a) replicate the results of previous research, specifically those obtained by Lerman et al. (2004), with a younger population with no known diagnoses and (b) compare three experimental designs in terms of efficiency and validity. The methodology designed by Lerman et al. was sufficient to identify an effective intervention for 20 of the 23 tasks that were assessed in Study 1. Results of Study 2 indicated that the brief multielement design was most efficient while the standard reversal was most efficacious. Given these findings, potential modifications to the assessment arrangement to enhance efficiency, while maintaining a high degree of predictive validity, are discussed