Abstract
This study evaluated procedures for teaching three children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder the perspective-taking skill of identifying known and unknown information by others based on what they were sensing across all five senses: see, taste, feel, hear, and smell. Using a multiple baseline across participants design, this study evaluated a training package consisting of rules, multiple exemplar training, error correction, and reinforcement. The treatment package successfully taught participants to identify known/unknown information based on what individuals sensed. Generalization across untrained stimuli and people was observed from baseline to posttraining for all participants.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data Availability
Data will be made available on reasonable request.
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.; DSM-TR).
Barnes-Holmes, Y., McHugh, L., & Barnes-Holmes, D. (2004). Perspective-taking and theory of mind: A relational frame account. The Behavior Analyst Today, 5(1), 15–25. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0100133
Baron-Cohen, S. (1989). The autistic child’s theory of mind: A case of specific developmental delay. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 30(2), 285–297. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.1989.tb00241.x
Baron-Cohen, S., Leslie, A. M., & Frith, U. (1985). Does the autistic child have “theory of mind?”. Cognition, 21(1), 37–46. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(85)90022-8
Baron-Cohen, S., Leslie, A. M., & Frith, U. (1986). Mechanical, behavioral and intentional understanding of picture stories in autistic children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 4(2), 113–125. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-835X.1986.tb01003.x
Bergstrom, R., Najdowski, A. C., Alvarado, M., & Tarbox, J. (2016). Teaching children with autism to tell socially appropriate lies. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 49(2), 405–410. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaba.295
Charlop-Christy, M. H., & Daneshvar, S. (2003). Using video modeling to teach perspective taking to children with autism. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 5(1), 12–21. https://doi.org/10.1177/10983007030050010101
Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2020). Applied behavior analysis (3rd ed.). Pearson.
Dhadwal, A. K., Najdowski, A. C., & Tarbox, J. (2021). A systematic replication of teaching children with autism and other developmental disabilities correct responding to false-belief tasks. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 14(2), 378–386. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-020-00531-x
Dunn, L. M., & Dunn, D. M. (2007). Peabody picture vocabulary test (4th ed.). Pearson.
Gould, E., Tarbox, J., O'Hora, D., Noone, S., & Bergstrom, R. (2011). Teaching children with autism a basic component skill of perspective-taking. Behavioral Interventions, 26(1), 50–66. https://doi.org/10.1002/bin.320
Hadwin, J., Baron-Cohen, S., Howlin, P., & Hill, K. (1996). Can we teach children with autism to understand emotions, belief, or pretence? Development & Psychopathology, 8(2), 345–365. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579400007136
Hahs, A. D. (2015). Teaching prerequisite perspective-taking skills to children with autism. International Journal of Psychology & Behavioral Sciences, 5(3), 115–120. https://doi.org/10.5923/j.ijpbs.20150503.02
Hayes, S. C, Barnes-Holmes, D., & Roche, B. (Eds.). (2001). Relational frame theory: A post-Skinnerian account of human language and cognition. Plenum Press.
Howlin, P., Baron-Cohen, S., & Hadwin, J. (1999). Teaching children with autism to mind-read: A practical guide. John Wiley & Sons.
LeBlanc, L. A., Coates, A. M., Daneshvar, S., Charlop-Christy, M. H., Morris, C., & Lancaster, B. M. (2003). Using video modeling and reinforcement to teach perspective-taking skills to children with autism. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 36(2), 253–257. https://doi.org/10.1901/jaba.2003.36-253
Leslie, A. M., & Frith, U. (1988). Autistic children's understanding of seeing, knowing and believing. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 6(4), 315–324. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-835X.1988.tb01104.x
Lovett, S., & Rehfeldt, R. A. (2014). An evaluation of multiple exemplar instruction to teach perspective-taking skills to adolescents with Asperger Syndrome. Behavioral Development Bulletin, 19(2), 22–36. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0100575
Martin, N., & Brownell, R. (2011). Expressive one-word picture vocabulary test: Manual 4. Novato, CA: ATP Assessments.
Najdowski, A. C., Bergstrom, R., Tarbox, J., & St. Clair, M. (2017). Teaching children with autism to respond to disguised mands. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 50(4), 733–743. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaba.413
Najdowski, A. C., St. Clair, M., Fullen, J. A., Child, A., Persicke, A., & Tarbox, J. (2018). Teaching children with autism to identify and respond appropriately to the preferences of others during play. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 51(4), 890–898. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaba.494
Ozonoff, S., & Miller, J. N. (1995). Teaching theory of mind: A new approach to social skills training for individuals with autism. Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders, 25, 415–433. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf02179376
Perner, J., Frith, U., Leslie, A. M., & Leekam, S. R. (1989). Exploration of the autistic child's theory of mind: Knowledge, belief, and communication. Child Development, 60(3), 689–700. https://doi.org/10.2307/1130734
Persicke, A., Tarbox, J., Ranick, J., & Clair, M. S. (2012). Establishing metaphorical reasoning in children with autism. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 6(2), 913–920. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2011.12.007
Persicke, A., Tarbox, J., Ranick, J., & Clair, M. S. (2013). Teaching children with autism to detect and respond to sarcasm. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 7(1), 193–198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2012.08.005
Ranick, J., Persicke, A., Tarbox, J., & Kornack, J. A. (2013). Teaching children with autism to detect and respond to deceptive statements. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 7(4), 503–508. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2012.12.001
Schlinger, H. D. (2009). Theory of mind: An overview and behavioral perspective. The Psychological Record, 59(3), 435–448. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03395673
Schneider, D., Slaughter, V. P., & Dux, P. E. (2015). What do we know about implicit false-belief tracking? Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 22(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-014-0644-z
Skinner, B. F. (1953). Science and human behavior. Macmillan.
Skinner, B. F. (1957). Verbal behavior. Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Skinner, B. F. (1969). Contingencies of reinforcement: A theoretical analysis. Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Sparrow, S. S., Cicchetti, D. V., & Saulnier, C. (2016). Vineland adaptive behavior scales (3rd ed.). AGS Publishing.
Spradlin, J. E., & Brady, N. (2008). A behavior analytic interpretation of theory of mind. International Journal of Psychology & Psychological Therapy, 8(3), 335–350. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3825461/pdf/nihms471127.pdf
Suarez, V. D., Najdowski, A. C., Tarbox, J., Moon, E. I., St. Clair, M., & Farag, P. (2021). Teaching individuals with autism problem-solving skills for resolving social conflicts. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 15(3), 768–781. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-021-00643-y
Sundberg, M. L. (2008). Verbal behavior milestones assessment and placement program. AVB Press.
Wechsler, D. (2014). Wechsler intelligence scale for children (5th ed.). NCS Pearson.
Welsh, F., Najdowski, A. C., Strauss, D., Gallegos, L., & Fullen, J. (2019). Teaching a perspective-taking component skill to children with autism in the natural environment. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 52, 439–450. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaba.523
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Informed Consent
Informed consent was obtained by all human participants using a consent form approved by Pepperdine University’s IRB.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
We thank Justin Leaf, Wafa Aljohani, and Jamie O’Flarity for their assistance with this project. We also thank Alyson Padgett, Jonathan Tarbox, Angela Persicke, Kristin Gunby, and Jennifer Chu for their assistance with an earlier version of this project.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
St. Clair, M., Najdowski, A.C., Welsh, F. et al. Teaching Children with Autism to Identify Known and Unknown Information across Self and Others. Behav Analysis Practice 16, 837–848 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-022-00768-8
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-022-00768-8