Effects of Conditional Discrimination Training and Choice Opportunities on Manding for Two Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Language Delays

摘要

Our primary focus in this study was to examine the effect of conditional discrimination training on reducing high-rate mands in two young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and language delays. Our secondary purpose in this study was to examine the effect of alternative activities during extended delays when reinforcement was unavailable on children's response allocation. First, we taught each child to emit discriminated responding by reinforcing his mand in one stimulus condition (i.e., green light) and not reinforcing it in a different stimulus condition (i.e., red light). Next, we examined children's responding during a gradually-increased duration of the extinction condition when a choice for alternative activities was present. Finally, we examined maintenance of the newly acquired discriminated responding. Data indicate that our conditional discrimination training was effective in reducing children's high-rate mands in the presence of a discriminative stimulus. Response allocation data suggest that both children showed a preference for a leisure activity during extended delays when reinforcement was unavailable. Both children maintained the skills 8-weeks after the intervention was discontinued.