Volume 39 Number 4 December 2004

Teaching Pointing to Numerals to Individuals with Autism Using Simultaneous Prompting

Wed, 01 Dec 2004 00:00:00 GMT

By: Nurgul Akmanoglu and Sema Batu

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine effectiveness of simultaneous prompting in teaching pointing to numerals to individuals with autism. Three individuals with autism were taught pointing to numerals, which were orally named by the teacher using simultaneous prompting. A multiple probe design was used across three behaviors and replicated across three subjects. Results revealed that simultaneous prompting was effective in teaching pointing to numerals, which were named by the teacher. Subjects managed to learn the numerals and generalize this skill to ‘pointing to the numerals on a calendar page’.

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Teaching Social Problem Solving to Individuals with Mental Retardation

Wed, 01 Dec 2004 00:00:00 GMT

By: Steven A. Crites and Caroline Dunn

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to determine effectiveness of a problem-solving curriculum for transition-age students with mental retardation. The interactive training program Solving Your Problems (Browning, n.d.) was used to teach a five-step process for solving problems. Results indicate participants in the training group were able to use the five-step problem solving process to solve problem situations. Additionally, members of the training group scored higher than those in the control group on a problem-solving curriculum measure and were able to generate more alternative solutions to novel problem situations. There was some evidence of generalization of the five-step process to novel problem situations. Participant feedback on training was positive.

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Collaboration Among Parents and Professionals with Discrete Trial Training in the Treatment for Autism

Wed, 01 Dec 2004 00:00:00 GMT

By: Sandra D. Devlin and Melissa M. Harber

Abstract: This study evaluates impact of collaborative efforts of parents and school professionals in the treatment of autism in a five-year-old boy. Method of treatment was discrete trial training across settings (e.g., home and school) and change agents were the child’s parents, siblings, special education teacher, resource teacher, and speech pathologist.

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Pica: A Review of Recent Assessment and Treatment Procedures

Wed, 01 Dec 2004 00:00:00 GMT

By: Stacy L. Carter, John J. Wheeler, and Michael R. Mayton

Abstract: The phenomenon of pica has been described within the literature in many ways, from a socially acceptable practice to a life threatening behavior. Recent prevalence rates of pica indicate relatively low occurrence of this phenomenon that makes it difficult to easily identify trends in practices related to pica. Recent literature on pica (1990 to 2002) indicate a trend toward use of more reinforcement based procedures and less use of more intrusive procedures such as overcorrection, time-out and restraint as was reported in the literature prior to 1990. Most recent studies of pica appear to have an underlying basis in behavior analysis procedures for both assessment and intervention. It appears that recent literature indicates a trend toward frequent use of functional assessment procedures to identify the specific reinforcement involved with pica. This paper reviews some of the recent assessment procedures and treatments of pica based on different etiological models.

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Similarities and Differences in Addition Strategies of Children with and without Mental Retardation

Wed, 01 Dec 2004 00:00:00 GMT

By: Lisa F. Huffman, Kathryn L. Fletcher, Norman W. Bray, and Lisa A. Grupe

Abstract: This microgenetic study investigated similarities and differences in use and discovery of addition strategies in children with and without mild mental retardation across 24 sessions. Nine children with mild mental retardation in third through fifth grade classrooms and 14 children without mental retardation in kindergarten classrooms were tested individually over 12 weeks (two sessions per week with 12 addition problems per session) and were given no strategy instruction. Overall, children with and without mental retardation showed strategy change across session, progressing from less to more sophisticated strategies and did not differ in the range of strategies, with from one to six different strategies used in both groups. Pretests measures of conceptual understanding of number, including highest number counted to and magnitude estimation problems were the best predictors of accuracy during testing sessions. These results have important implications for educational practices for children with disabilities.

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Sensory Issues in Children with Asperger Syndrome and Autism

Wed, 01 Dec 2004 00:00:00 GMT

By: Brenda Smith Myles, Taku Hagiwara, Winnie Dunn, Louann Rinner, Matthew Reese, Abby Huggins, and Stephanie Becker

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine whether children with Asperger Syndrome and children with autism exhibit difference sensory profiles. The Sensory Profile (Dunn, 1999), completed on 86 individuals with Asperger Syndrome and 86 persons with autism matched for age, revealed differences in three of 23 areas evaluated: (a) Emotional/Social Responses, (b) Emotional Reactivity, and (c) Inattention/Distractibility. Implications regarding these similarities and differences in profile are discussed.

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Cross-Cultural Comparison of the Concept of “Otherness” and Its Impact on Persons with Disabilities

Wed, 01 Dec 2004 00:00:00 GMT

By: Nikkin Murdick, Paul Shore, Mary M. Chittooran, and Barbara Gartin

Abstract: Throughout the world there has been concern that persons with disabilities are being perceived as “other” than us and that differences imparted by disability result in more dissimilarity than actually exists. A summary of this concept of “otherness” and disability in the United States, Eastern Europe, and India is presented.

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Learning Set Instruction in Seriation and the Oddity Principle for a Child With Severe Mental Disabilities

Wed, 01 Dec 2004 00:00:00 GMT

By: Robert Pasnak, Elise M. Maccubbin, Jessica L. Campbell, and Mrinka Gadzichowski

Abstract: In a multiple baseline design, a teenager with a mental age of four years was taught two abstractions. One was the oddity principle (selecting the one object in a group which differs from the rest). The other was seriation (aligning objects along a continuum of size, and inserting new objects into their proper places in the alignments). These abilities demarcate the transition between preoperational and concrete operational thought, and are the earliest forms of purely relational responding. Learning sets of 80 oddity problems and 65 seriation problems were used to promote generalization. A “fade-out” procedure was used to make mastery of the problems as easy as possible. Combination of these techniques produced the first recorded success in teaching either the oddity principle or seriation to a child with severe disabilities, and may substantially reduce difficulty of helping many such children learn concepts at this level of abstraction.

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