Efeitos de justificativas presentes em histórias infantis sobre o brincar social de crianças com o Transtorno do Espectro Autista

Abstract

Justifications are properties of rules, constituted by previous and future historical events, which can change a probability of an event occurring and be kept historical. Children's stories, generally speaking, are examples of Type 5 justifications, which are defined as descriptions of examples of behaviors to be followed, or not to be followed. Studies have shown that justifications are effective in evoking and controlling behaviors that are unlikely to occur. Thus, the aim of this research was to investigate the effects of Type 5 justifications presentations in children's stories on the behavior of social play with children when the interaction was with typical-trained children. Four children with autism and five typical children participate, between 5 and 7 years of age. To assess the children's initial record, the Verbal Behavior Milestone Assessment Placement Program, the Comprehension Test des and the Follow-up Test of were used as instruments. Five steps were carried out: Stage 1: capture of participants; Stage 2: requirements tests, with the objective of verifying that the participants correspond to the exclusion/inclusion criteria; Stage 3: baseline, with the objective of evaluating the criterion of playing before the intervention, recording the time and frequencies of behavior; Stage 4: intervention with children's stories and probing of social play behaviors; Stage 5: Generalization test (performed for one participant only). Social play behavior was measured in a situation of social interaction between a typical child and one with ASD. The results showed that children's stories were effective in increasing the duration of some target behaviors, with a statistically significant correlation between the amount of stories presented and the duration of some social play behaviors. The results indicate that children's stories with Type 5 justifications can be implemented to alter the duration of social play behavior when trained peers are used.