Study objective: The present study aimed to establish right-left discrimination from one's own and another person's viewpoint in children with autism. In Study 1, participants were taught right-left discrimination from their own viewpoint and from the viewpoint of the trainer who was sitting opposite them. In Study 2, generalization of the learned discrimination was examined using two dolls, one of which had the same viewpoint as the participant, and another that had the trainer's viewpoint. Design: A multiple baseline design across participants was used. Setting: The sessions were conducted in a room at a university. Participants: Participants were two 8-year-old girls with autism. Intervention: In Study 1, after the participants were taught to point to the same position (e.g., right) from their own and the trainer's viewpoints, they were then taught to point to both positions (left and right) from both viewpoints. In Study 2, the same discriminations were taught using dolls that were placed in the positions of the trainer and the participant. Measures: Percentage of responses that were correct. Results: In Study 1, participants established right-left discrimination from their own and the trainer's viewpoint. In Study 2, one of the girls (P1) was able to discriminate left and right from the doll's viewpoint when a prompt was presented. After the other girl (P2) had additional right-left discrimination training from the doll's viewpoint, she was able to make the right-left discrimination. After achieving mastery according to the criterion, both participants showed generalization with new dolls. Conclusion: In the present experiment, in order to establish a discrimination of position from another person's viewpoint, higher-order conditional discrimination training was needed, with both position and viewpoint as discriminative stimuli. For generalization, contextual stimuli have to be effective, making the participants and the dolls equivalent.

View full abstract

Study Objective: The purpose of the present study was to expand the application of the self-recording method in writing responses by students with developmental disabilities, and to examine whether only self-recording was effective in changing the writing responses. Design: A-B-A design, in combination with alternating treatment design. Setting: A therapy room at the university and a home setting. Participants: 2 boys with developmental disabilities. Independent variables: Self-recording was introduced in 3 conditions: praise-interrupted, self-praise, and others' praise. Measure: Accuracy of writing responses. Results: After the introduction of self-recording, the accuracy of writing responses of the 2 participants increased. No difference was observed in the effect of self-recording across conditions. Conclusion: The results suggest that self-recording was effective in changing the writing responses that required fine motor adjustment. It is unclear whether only self-recording was effective in the improvement in writing responses.

View full abstract

Study objective: The present study examined effects of a group-oriented contingency intervention called "Anchor the Boat" on disruptive behaviors (talk-outs) and alternative behaviors in a third-grade classroom in a public elementary school. Design: Interventions followed baselines across 3 settings (teacher's talk before 1st period, 1st period, and 2nd period). Setting: One classroom in a public elementary school. Participants: 33 children (15 boys, 18 girls). Intervention: A package program consisting of rules of good listening, a sign for preparation to listen, group-oriented contingency management, and interventions by the teacher. Measure: Interval recording was used to measure talk-outs in class. Results: To decrease talk-out behavior, a group-oriented contingency proved to be necessary in addition to rules of good listening, a sign for preparation to listen, and interventions by the teacher. However, only rules of good listening, a sign for preparation to listen, and interventions by the teacher increased alternative behavior. Conclusion: Conditions necessary for rules to function effectively in class were examined through component analysis of the intervention package.

View full abstract

Study objectives: The present study examined the effects of self-recording and self-goal setting on the accuracy of first service in soft tennis. Design: Multiple baseline design across subjects, consisting of 4 phases: baseline, self-recording, self goal-setting, and follow-up. A session consisted of 2 blocks, a practice block and a main block. Setting: Club activity at a high school. Participants: 4 male tennis players. Independent variables: Self-recording using self-recording sheets on which players recorded the frequency of successful services, and self goal-setting using self goal-setting sheets on which players recorded their goals. Measures: Percentage of successful services. Results: Self-recording and self goal-setting were effective in increasing the accuracy of the services of 2 of the 4 participants. Conclusion: The results suggest that accuracy of first services may be increased by self-recording and self goal-setting.

View full abstract