Procedimento de observação de pareamentos de estímulos com e sem exigência de resposta ecoica: efeitos na emergência de intraverbais em crianças com autismo

Abstract

The teaching of intraverbals is mainly studied through procedures that involve differential reinforcement such as tact training and listener training. However, another procedure called ‘Stimulus Pairing Observation Procedure’ (SPOP) emerged as an alternative to verify the emergence of verbal repertoires. This procedure consists of observation of stimuli presented contiguously, where the only response required is the observation and does not involve differential reinforcement of any responses. Studies have shown that verbal operants can be established through SPOP, and have also emphasized the role of echoic behavior as an mediator in tact, listener, and intraverbal responses emergence. The present study compared the efficacy of the SPOP with and without requirement of echoic response in emergence of intraverbals in three children with autism. A multiple probe design with alternating treatment between participants was used. The procedure had seven phases: 1) Evaluation of syllable articulation; 2) Initial Intraverbal Probe; 3) Tact Training; 4) Baseline; 5) Implementation of treatments; 6) Generalization test; 7) Maintenance test. The results showed the SPOP’s efficacy for intraverbals induction and suggested a facilitating role of the echoic. Possible carry-over effects of treatments, extinction of responses in the experimental context and the use of conditioned reinforcers as part of the SPOP are discussed.