Autism Research Study

The participant of this research study was a 3-year-old boy named Jake with a primary diagnosis of autism. Jake was enrolled at a private clinic that provided one-to-one educational services to individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities. Instruction and treatment were guided by the principles of applied behavior analysis (ABA) and incorporated Skinner’s (1957) analysis of verbal behavior. The educational setting consisted of two classrooms and one activity room. Approximately nine other children were receiving intensive one-to-one instruction simultaneously within this setting. Across the classrooms and activity room, a wide variety of items and activities were available to students. Examples include gross motor activities
(e.g., trampoline, bikes, basketball hoop), fine motor activities (e.g., puzzles, beads, shape sorters), academic activities (e.g., books, workbooks, computers), and toys (e.g., plastic figurines, cars, trucks, puppets). Jake’s vocal mand repertoire was multiply controlled in that mands occurred under the control of both a relevant motivating operation and the presence of preferred items which served a discriminative function. Prior to the beginning of the study, data on the frequency and variety of mands emitted were recorded over a 3-month period. According to the data, at the time of this study, Jake had learned to emit over 300 mand responses and emitted an average of about one mand per min during a 3 hr instructional session. An Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills (ABLLS, Partington & Sundberg, 1998) conducted approximately 3 months prior to beginning this study indicated that Jake exhibited limited tact, listener, and intra-verbal repertoires. In addition, Jake had a history of emitting interfering problem behaviors in the form of bolting, flopping, kicking, crying, and whining. Sequence analysis data were collected on occurrences of problem behavior and allowed for the tentative identification of the function of behavior by noting the correlation between a problem behavior and its putative evocative or antecedent stimulus. Based on the sequence analysis data collected, it appeared the major functions of Jake’s interfering problem behavior were socially mediated positive reinforcement and socially mediated negative reinforcement. The sequence analysis data also revealed that problem behavior was occurring at a rate of five episodes of problem behavior per 3hr session. Prior to the onset of this study, behavior reduction procedures were implemented that consisted of teaching procedures to reduce the value of escape from instructional tasks as a reinforcer, extinction for problem behavior, and reinforcement for vocal mands. After 3 months of intervention, Jake’s interfering problem behavior was reduced to an average rate of one episode of problem behavior per 3hr session by the beginning of this study. An eye contact response was defined as movement by Jake’s head and eyes so as to make direct contact with the eyes of the person from whom he was manding immediately prior to or simultaneous with the vocal mand response. A specific criterion for the duration of eye contact was not established in order to promote natural and functional response topographies. Eye contact responses of any duration were counted. A correct response was defined as the production of a one-word vocal mand that was immediately preceded or accompanied by an eye contact response. An incorrect response was defined as the production of a vocal mand that was not immediately preceded or accompanied by an eye contact response. The dependent measure in this study was the percentage of mands accompanied by eye contact during a 3hr session.
In the baseline condition, all vocal mands were immediately followed by the delivery of the item or activity requested regardless of the occurrence of an eye contact response. The consequences for mands took the form of 30s access to requested items and activities, consumption of food items, or until Jake initiated another trial by emitting a mand for a different or additional item. If Jake did not initiate another trial after the items requested were consumed by emitting a mand response at the end of the consequence period, the instructor manipulated environmental stimuli so as to contrive an MO for some stimulus and arranged an opportunity for Jake to mand again. Following all vocal mands with or without eye contact the instructor responded conversationally. In the extinction process, if Jake manded for an item or activity and eye contact occurred immediately prior to or simultaneous with the vocal mand, the item or activity requested was delivered immediately. Consequences took the form of 30s access to requested items and activities, until food items were consumed, or until Jake initiated another trial by emitting a mand for a different or additional item. If Jake did not initiate another trial by emitting a mand response at the end of the reinforcement period, the instructor manipulated environmental stimuli so as to contrive an MO for some stimulus and arranged an opportunity for Jake to mand again. When Jake emitted a mand response that was not accompanied by eye contact, extinction was implemented by withholding the reinforcer specific to the mand. If Jake continued to produce additional vocal mands without emitting an eye contact response after the initiation of the extinction period, the reinforcer continued to be with held. The extinction period continued until a vocal mand was immediately preceded or accompanied by an eye contact response. Again, only vocal mands immediately preceded or accompanied by eye contact resulted in reinforcement. In the first three sessions of the extinction and differential reinforcement condition, the average percentage of mands accompanied by eye contact increased to about 18% (range, 15-20), suggesting that early in the treatment phase, Jake’s mand responses frequently contacted the extinction and differential reinforcement contingency for incorrect responses. A notable and relatively immediate increase in eye contact responses occurred beginning in Session 10. Although responding during Sessions 10 through 28 showed some variability, the majority of data points were above 80% with the lowest percentage of correct responses falling to only 55%. The mean percentage of mands accompanied by eye contact during the extinction and differential reinforcement procedure was approximately 77% (range, 15-97), a considerable increase over the base- line level. Moreover, the mean percentage of mands accompanied by eye contact responses for the last 15 sessions of the treatment condition was above 90% (range, 67-97) and overall the percentage of eye contact was relatively stable. The data from this single case study showed that, compared to baseline, the percentage of eye contact responses was substantially higher after the implementation of the treatment method. These results suggest that the procedures offered in this case study might be effective in increasing eye contact for some children with autism. In this case study, Jake emitted a low rate of eye contact responses during baseline. To overcome this skill deficit in behavior analytic research, response prompts are frequently implemented to supplement the control for the response and ensure that the behavior contacts the reinforcer. In this situation, a vocal or physical prompt may have been implemented to produce the eye contact response as demonstrated in previous studies on this topic (Foxx, 1977; Greer & Ross, 2007; Lovaas, 1977; Lovaas, 1981). The data reported in this case study show a substantial change following implementation of the treatment method and should encourage other authors to practice an experimental analysis of the procedures reported in this paper. More importantly, the conceptual analysis offered, related to conditioning social consequences as reinforcement for eye contact responses, addresses a critical issue today in autism research and within the treatment for students diagnosed with autism. In conclusion of all three-research articles, Autism Spectrum Disorder is a disorder with a wide range of impairments involved.
The one impairment focused on directly in this paper is eye contact and how children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder are affected in three different areas - social interaction, communication (both verbal and nonverbal) and their behaviors and interests. Eye contact is directly related to all three areas and to have a social interaction with another individual as well as communication; there is usually eye contact involved between both subjects communicating. The research studies done in all three articles explain how characteristics of ASD can be portrayed as early as a months after birth, infants show little to no eye contact when there is interaction occurring. The research also shows how children who are diagnosed with higher functioning autism also present little to no eye contact as well as not being able to observe eye contact not involving them in particular settings. The final research study explains how eye contact can be a taught skill and most effective when using reinforcement. The research within these articles can benefit not only educators and support staff but also parents, nurses/doctors, and researchers for further studies about eye contact within ASD. Parents and teachers working with children with ASD can use reinforcement for mands to improve the skill of using eye contact when communicating. Researchers can use these studies to continue more studies on this topic as well as branch out and research new ways on improving eye contact with students diagnosed with
ASD.