• 4year-old-boywithadiagnosisofAutismSpectrumDisorder

• StartedtreatmentinOctober2016• AttendsTPASprogramfor24hoursweekly• Attendsatypicalseniorkindergartenclassroom

for6hoursweeklywithateacherandaneducationalassistant

• Relativestrengths:visualperformance,receptivelanguageandimitation

• Relativeweaknesses:intraverbal,requestingandsocialandplay

• Ithasbeenobservedthattheclientdoesnotaskwh-questionsatthecenterorinthehomeenvironment

• BycontrivingEOandusingtextualpromptsandpromptfading,theclienthassuccessfullylearnedtoindependentlyemitrequestsusing“where?”acrossall4scenariosand“who?”across2scenariosthusfar(seeFig.3)

• Inadditiontolearningtorequest“whohasit?”,theclientalsoemittedanadditionalmandforthedesireditemafterapproachingtheidentifiedindividualwithoutdirectteaching

• Afunctionalrelationshipbetweentreatmentandincreasesinrespondingisdemonstratedbytheuntaughtwh-questionsandscenariosremaininbaselineat0%.

• AlthoughinthestudybyShillingsburg etal.(2011)generalizationoccurredacrossscenariosformostofthegeneralresponsetopographiestaught,probesinthiscasehavenotdemonstratedthatgeneralizationhasoccurred.

• Staffhaveanecdotallyreportedtheclientusingtaughtwh-questionsinnovelsituations;however,thedatadoesnotreflectthisobservation

TARGETRESPONSES:• Correctresponse:clientwillemittheappropriatewh-question

within3secondsoftheantecedentverbalandnonverbalstimuli• Incorrectresponse:clientrespondswithanyothervocalverbalorno

responseafter3secondsoftheantecedentverbalandnonverbalstimuli

BASELINE:• Duringbaseline,eachscenario(4total)perwh- question(3total)

waspresentedoncedailyacrossthreedaysforatotalof3probeseachperscenario.

• Ascenarioisdefinedasthepre-determinedantecedentmanipulationscreatedtocontriveEOandevokethetargetmand(seeFig.2)basedontheteachingstrategiesusedinShillingsburg etal.,2011.

• Afterthepresentationofverbaland/ornon-verbalstimuli,theclientwasgiven5storespond:

• Iftherewasnoresponseoranincorrectresponse,noreinforcementorattentionwasgivenandhisroutinecontinuedasusual.

• Ifacorrectresponsewasemitted,noreinforcementwouldhavebeenprovidedbuthisquestionswouldhavebeenacknowledgedbystaff(i.e.“Idon’tknow”,“I’mnotsure”,etc.).

• Duringbaseline,theclientdidnotemitthetargetresponse.Someresponsesincluded:noresponse,echoingtheverbalsdgivenbystaff,and/ortacting(e.g.“it’sempty”).

TEACHING:• EOmanipulationsandtextualpromptswereusedtoteachrequests

forinformation(Shillingsburg etal.,2011;2016).• Dependingonthetargetscenario,thenonverbaland/orverbal

stimuliwerepresentedtotheclient(seeFig.2)• Textualpromptswerefadedusingaconstanttimedelay

(Shillingsburgetal.,2016).After3promptedcorrectresponses,thetextualpromptwasfadedbya2sdelaytoallowforindependentresponses.

• Ifacorrectresponseoccurred,theclientwasgiventheinformationneededtoaccessthedesireditem.

• Ifanincorrectresponseoccurred,staffwouldrepresenttheverbalsdforthescenariowithadecreasedtimedelay.

• Frequentabsencesofclientlimitsteachingopportunities

• Contrivednatureofteachingscenariosmayleadtodifficultywhengeneralizingtonovelsituations

• ItisuncleariftherequestsforinformationareentirelycontrolledbyEOversustheverbalandnon-verbaldiscriminativestimuli

Thepurposeofthisskillacquisitionprogramisto:• Teachtheclienttorequestforinformationwith

wh-questions(where,who,when)

BACKGROUND

PURPOSE

METHODS RESULTS

LIMITATIONS

REFERENCES

Teaching a child with ASD to request informationFrances Noto, M.PEd (candidate)

SURREY PLACE CENTRE, TPAS

Wh-QuestionTarget:WHOHASIT?WHOISIT?A.Attemptingtoplaywithapreferredtoy/activitywithamissingpiece(e.g.tellinghimtocolorbutthemarkerismissing)andstating“someonetookyour________(marker)”

B.Statingthatsomeonehasasurpriseforhiminthepresenceof2otherstaffmembers

C.Presentingthreecontainers/boxeseachwithapictureofaclassmateinsideandstating“oneofyourfriendswantstoplaywithyou”D.Attemptingtogethislunchbagforsnack/lunch(butitismissing)andstating,“someonehasyourlunchbag”

Wh-QuestionTarget:WHEREISIT?WHEREIS_________?A.Presentinghimwithaboxtwotimesinarowwithatoyintheboxandthenonthethirdtime,presentingtheboxwithoutatoyB.Instructinghimtositinhischair,butthechairismissingC.Followingamandforanitem,tellhimtogetitbutit’snotinitstypicallocationD.Instructinghimtogethispencilfromhispencilcase,butthepencilcaseismissing

Wh-QuestionTarget:WHENAREWEGOING?WHENCANWEPLAY?A.Tellinghim“wearegoingtogovisitwest1butnotrightnow”B.Stating“let’splaywiththe________(preferredtoy,e.g.watertable),butnotrightnow”

C.Stating“wearegoingtoplayinthegymbutnotrightnow”D.Stating“soonitwillbetimefor________(e.g.snack,lunch,home,circle,etc.),butnotrightnow”

Fig.1.Theclient’sABLLS-Rassessmentresults

Fig.2.Predeterminedscenariostoevokemandsforinformationduringteaching(Shillingsburgetal.,2011)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

TheentireWest2teamforalltheirdiligentworkaswellasJenniferLuckhartandKarinEarlefortheirclinicalguidanceandsupervision.

Shillingsburg,M.A.,Gayman,C.M.,&Walton,W.(2016).Usingtextualpromptstoteachmandsfor

informationusing“Who?”.TheAnalysisofVerbalBehavior,32(1),1-14.doi:10.1007/s40616-016-0053-7

Shillingsburg,M.A.,Valentino,A.L.,Bowen,C.N.,Bradley,D.,&Zavatkay,D.(2011)..Teachingchildrenwithautismtorequestinformation.ResearchinAutismSpectrumDisorders,5(1),670-679.doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2010.08.004

Fig.3.Client’smandsforinformationusing“where”,“who”,and“when”aredepicted.