Abstract
A modified incidental-teaching procedure was used to increase the receptive language skills of autistic youth who had previously experienced lengthy institutionalization. At the time of the study, the two severely language-delayed children had recently been transitioned to a community-based group home. Receptive-labeling skills were taught for four sets of objects typically used in school lunch preparation. The percentage of correct, unprompted object identifications displayed by Youth 1 increased when the incidental-teaching package (gestural prompts, behavior-specific praise, and contingent access to lunch-making supplies) was sequentially introduced in a multiple-baseline design across sets of objects. These results were replicated with Youth 2. The youths' newly acquired language skills also generalized to a different setting (the dining room of the group home) and to a different activity occurring later in the day (a traditional sit-down, discrete-trial session). This research indicates that the linguistic skills of severely developmentally delayed autistic children can be accelerated by incidental instruction that is provided in the course of shaping other home-living skills.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Halle J. W., Baer D. M., Spradlin J. E. Teachers' generalized use of delay as a stimulus control procedure to increase language use in handicapped children. J Appl Behav Anal. 1981 Winter;14(4):389–409. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1981.14-389. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Hart B. M., Risley T. R. Establishing use of descriptive adjectives in the spontaneous speech of disadvantaged preschool children. J Appl Behav Anal. 1968 Summer;1(2):109–120. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1968.1-109. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Hart B., Risley T. R. In vivo language intervention: unanticipated general effects. J Appl Behav Anal. 1980 Fall;13(3):407–432. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1980.13-407. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Hart B., Risley T. R. Incidental teaching of language in the preschool. J Appl Behav Anal. 1975 Winter;8(4):411–420. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1975.8-411. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Hart B., Risley T. R. Using preschool materials to modify the language of disadvantaged children. J Appl Behav Anal. 1974 Summer;7(2):243–256. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1974.7-243. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Koegel R. L., Rincover A. Treatment of psychotic children in a classroom environment: I. Learning in a large group. J Appl Behav Anal. 1974 Spring;7(1):45–59. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1974.7-45. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Lovaas O. I., Schreibman L., Koegel R., Rehm R. Selective responding by autistic children to multiple sensory input. J Abnorm Psychol. 1971 Jun;77(3):211–222. doi: 10.1037/h0031015. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Wilhelm H., Lovaas O. I. Stimulus overselectivity: a common feature in autism and mental retardation. Am J Ment Defic. 1976 Jul;81(1):26–31. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]