Graduation Year
2012
Document Type
Thesis
Degree
M.A.
Degree Granting Department
Child and Family Studies
Major Professor
Timothy M. Weil
Keywords
autism, sign training, verbal behavior
Abstract
Abstract
Verbal behavior encompasses a wide range of aspects in our everyday lives and in the activities of a society. Many verbal behavior interventions often include programs to teach answering questions, these responses are referred to as intraverbals. Previous research has demonstrated a higher rate of acquisition of verbal targets such as mands and tacts for children with a limited verbal repertoire when a presentation of both sign and vocal prompts occur simultaneously (Total Communication), in comparison to sign-alone or vocal-alone trainings. However, an important variable not often examined in the literature is the comparison of Total Communication (TC) and Prompt Delay (PD) to further evaluate which leads to higher rates of acquisition. The current study extends previous research by evaluating the relative effectiveness of TC and PD in teaching intraverbal skills to three children who have been diagnosed with autism. During the TC condition the participants were required to emit a vocal and sign response simultaneously during training. During the PD condition, participants were required to emit only a vocal response during training. The results suggest that there was no clinically relevant difference between the two conditions in the acquisition of intraverbals for these participants.
Scholar Commons Citation
Pesantez, Rosana, "Comparing Prompt Delay and Total Communication for Training Vocal Intraverbals in Children with Autism" (2012). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/4385
