Efeitos do número de pareamentos no uso do procedimento de observação de pareamento de estímulos para ensinar tato e resposta de ouvinte para crianças com autismo

Abstract

Two procedures have been proposed as alternatives to matching to sample as ways to induce the emergence of repertoires not directly taught: 1) multiple exemplar instruction (MEI); and 2) stimulus observation pairing (SPO). MEI implies the rotation of teaching different responses to a stimulus (ex, tact and listener response), which favors the incidental learning of these types of responses to new stimuli from the teaching only one type. In the SPO is only required the observation of stimuli presented next to each other, without differential reinforcement. The results of some studies suggest that a higher frequency of pairings could lead to the emergence of tact and listener responses not taught directly, and that the stimuli pairings may affect the MEI. The present study evaluated the effect of SPO with a higher frequency of pairings by trials on the emergence of tact and listener responses in three children with autism, and the effect of SPO in teaching these responses through MEI. For two participants, the SPO with more pairings by trials favored the emergence of the listener repertoire. These participants only learned tact responses after MEI. SPO had a facilitating effect on MEI training. The role of MEI and intensive tact training for the emergence of tact and listener repertoires is discussed, as well as the types of stimulus control that the SPO seems to favor, and the possibility of investigating the SPO in more natural situations that may favor the learning of tact without direct training.