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ABSTRACT

Teaching Children with Autism using Conditioned Cue-Value and Response-Marking Procedures: A Socially Valid Approach

Corinna Grindle

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTOM, UNITED KINGDOM

Five children with autism were taught to match printed words to corresponding pictures. Participants’ speed of learning was compared across three training conditions, each involving a 5-s delay of reinforcement, using a within-participants alternating treatments design. In the cue value condition, a verbal phrase of approval (e.g., “good!”) was delivered only after correct responses and again after a 5-s delay when a primary reinforcer was delivered; in the response marking condition, an attention-eliciting verbal cue (e.g., “look!”) was delivered after both correct and incorrect responses, but not prior to the primary reinforcer; in the delay only condition, there were no cues during a 5-s delay. Performance in the no-cue control was inferior to both the cue-value and response-marking conditions, but there was little difference between the latter two conditions. The implications of these results for facilitating learning in applied settings are discussed.