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. 2005;21(1):43-58.
doi: 10.1007/BF03393009.

Evaluating stimulus-stimulus pairing and direct reinforcement in the establishment of an echoic repertoire of children diagnosed with autism

Barbara E Esch  1 , James E Carr, Jack Michael
Affiliations

Evaluating stimulus-stimulus pairing and direct reinforcement in the establishment of an echoic repertoire of children diagnosed with autism

Barbara E Esch et al. Anal Verbal Behav. 2005.

Abstract

Many children with autism do not imitate adult vocalizations, an important skill in learning to talk. Pairing adult vocalizations with preferred stimuli has been shown to increase free-operant vocalizations but effects are temporary; thus, direct reinforcement may be necessary to establish durable vocal behaviors. In Experiment 1, directly reinforced echoic responses did not increase following stimulus-stimulus pairings in three children with autism. Similarly, pairings did not increase free-operant vocalizations in Experiment 2, a replication of Miguel et al. (2002). Experiment 3 demonstrated that shaping increased vowel frequency for one participant. Results suggest that variables are yet to be delineated that influence effectiveness of a stimulus-stimulus pairing procedure on vocalization frequency and acquisition of a verbal operant following such pairings.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Percentage of trials during Experiment 1 in which target and non-target phonemes occurred during echoic probes in baseline and following stimulus-stimulus pairings with Alexa.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Percentage of trials during Experiment 1 in which target and non-target phonemes occurred during echoic probes in baseline and following stimulus-stimulus pairings with David.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Percentage of trials during Experiment 1 in which target and non-target phonemes occurred during echoic probes in baseline and following stimulus-stimulus pairings with Jodi.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Target phoneme responses per minute during Experiment 2 for David (upper two panels) and Jodi (lower two panels) from observations occurring before and after stimulus-stimulus pairings.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Results of differential reinforcement of vowel frequency during Experiment 3 for Jodi (top panel) and David (lower panel) graphically depicted using a nonconcurrent baseline design.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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