Differential observing responses (DORs) are additional response requirements used to promote orientation to a stimulus in a discrimination task. Farber and Dickson (2023) recently provided a DOR taxonomy, and these authors reported that no prior research has compared the effects of distinct DOR requirements. We compared the effects of two DOR…

Parity is one source of automatic reinforcement that increases the probability of verbal behavior that conforms to models provided by the verbal community. Parity as a conditioned reinforcer could explain the acquisition of grammar in the absence of direct, explicit reinforcement. This possibility has been explored in previous research on…

The current study combined equivalence-based instruction and instructive feedback (IF) with two groups of children with autism spectrum disorder. For group 1, three sets of three targets were tested, and for group 2, two sets of three targets were tested. For each target stimulus, the following verbal operants were evaluated: (1) tact name, (2)…

Whether a child with autism spectrum disorder will exhibit observational learning may depend on their attention to and the stimulus modalities of the observed contingency. We used multiple-probe and repeated-acquisition designs to test observational learning across a diverse set of contingencies, which included hidden edible, hidden toy, hidden…

Evolution and reinforcement shape adaptive forms and adaptive behavior through many cycles of blind variation and selection, and therein lie their parsimony and power. Human behavior is distinctive in that this shaping process is commonly "short circuited": Critical variations are induced in a single trial. The processes by which this economy is…

A skill essential for successful inclusion in general education settings is the ability to learn by observing others. Research, however, has documented children with autism display significant deficits in the fundamental skills necessary for observational learning. This article outlines the skills essential for observational learning from an…

Special education teachers often search for effective strategies to teach a variety of skills to students with moderate to severe disabilities through small group instruction. The investigators examined the acquisition of academic skills as well as chained and discrete tasks presented as nontargeted information by a small group of students with…

Play is a complex phenomenon that occurs naturally for most children; they move through the various stages of play development and are able to add complexity, imagination, and creativity to their thought processes and actions. However, for many children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), the various stages of play never truly develop, or occur…

This study sought to further investigate the effects of an observational intervention for two participants on the reinforcing property of pieces of string. Pre-observational intervention data showed that the neutral stimuli (strings) did not function to reinforce two participants' responding to a performance task or learning three new skills that…

The importance of play in child development and the barriers that individuals with autism face regarding play skills requires us to identify specific interventions which can assist in the development of such skills. Stimulus pairing, which has been documented as a procedure by which an event comes to elicit a response by being paired with an event…

This study examined and compared the effectiveness of a simultaneous prompting procedure used in both 1:1 and small group instruction to teach pretend play skills to a group of preschool students, three having a diagnosis of pervasive developmental disorder and one having a diagnosis of severe developmental disabilities. The study also assessed…

Announces the findings of a study which appeared in the June, 1979 issue of "Perceptual and Motor Skills." According to the study, introverted children learn more through observation than do extroverted children and extroverts respond more to social, person-oriented stimuli. (Author/SA)

This investigation examined the effectiveness of teaching letter sounds in a small group arrangement using computer-assisted instruction with SMART Board technology and a 3s constant time delay procedure to three students with learning disabilities. A multiple probe design across letter sound sets and replicated across students evaluate the…

Degree of organization in presenting stimuli, and training through modeling versus guided practice, were studied on a dial-reading concept using 144 third or fifth graders. (ST)

Results indicate that subjects first observing apparatus operation by electromechanical means performed task better than those who had not, and that there is no significant difference between performance of subjects who had observed demonstration by electromechanical device and those who had observed a human model. Applicability of findings…