Abstract
This study evaluated an intervention package combining simple and conditional discrimination training and specific reinforcement for each stimulus class in teaching reading of simple words to individuals with intellectual disabilities. In conditional discrimination training, participants matched printed words and pictures to the recorded sounds made by the pictured objects and animals. Fourteen children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities were assigned to an experimental and a control group. The two groups’ performance did not differ in the pretest. The experimental group demonstrated equivalence class formation and read the words that participated in the equivalence classes, whereas the control group did not.
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Notes
Gerenciador de Ensino Individualizado por Computador (Individualized Learning Management System).
Edibles are strawberry-flavored wafer-type biscuit, onion-flavored chips, cheese-flavored chips, ham-flavored chips, chocolate candy, corn cereal, milk-flavored biscuit and cornstarch biscuit.
Naming in this manuscript refers to producing the oral name of the displayed picture or printed word, or, according to the taxonomy of verbal operants introduced by Skinner (1957), tacting the picture or emitting a textual response for a printed word or syllable. It does not imply the integration of speaker and listener repertoires implied in the concept of naming of Horne and Lowe (1996).
Set “D” refers to the oral response given by participants.
“s” stands for syllable.
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Based on a thesis submitted by the first author to the Graduate Program in Psychology of Universidade Federal de São Carlos, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Master’s degree. Isabela Zaine was supported by São Paulo Research Foundation FAPESP (Grant 08/56893-5). Julio de Rose was supported by a Research Productivity grant from CNPq. Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia sobre Comportamento, Cognição e Ensino (INCT-ECCE) is supported by CNPq (Grant 573972/2008-7) and FAPESP (Grant 08/57705-8). We thank INCT-ECCE’s chairperson, Deisy de Souza, for her support.
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Zaine, I., Domeniconi, C. & de Rose, J.C. Simple and Conditional Discrimination and Specific Reinforcement in Teaching Reading: An Intervention Package. Analysis Verbal Behav 30, 193–204 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40616-014-0010-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40616-014-0010-2