Abstract
Although considerable progress has been made in improving the acquisition of expressive verbal communication in children with autism, research has documented that a subpopulation of children still fail to acquire speech even with intensive intervention. One variable that might be important in facilitating responding for this nonverbal subgroup of children is the use of antecedent orienting cues. Using a multiple baseline design, this study examined whether individualized orienting cues could be identified, and whether their presentation would result in the production of verbal expressive words. The results showed that this antecedent stimulus control procedure produced improvements in responding to verbal models in all of the children, and subsequent gains in speech for some of the children. Theoretical and applied implications of orienting cues as they relate to antecedent stimulus control for children with autism are discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., text rev.). Washington, DC: Author.
Burack, J. A., Enns, J. T., & Johannes, E. A. (1997). Attention and autism: Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence. In D. J. Cohen & F. R. Volkmar (Eds.), Handbook of autism and pervasive developmental disorders (2nd ed., pp. 226–247). New York: Wiley.
Carr, E. G., Newsom, C. D., & Binkoff, J. A. (1980). Escape as a factor in the aggressive behavior of two retarded children. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 13, 101–117.
Fenson, L., Dale, P. S., Reznick, J. S., Thal, D., Bates, E., Hartung, J. P., et al. (1993). The MacArthur communicative development inventories: User’s guide and technical manual. Baltimore: Brookes.
Gillberg, C. (1991). Outcome in autism and autistic-like conditions. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 30, 375–382.
Goldstein, G., Johnson, C. R., & Minshew, N. J. (2001). Attentional processes in autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 31, 433–440.
Howlin, P., Mahood, L., & Rutter, M. (2000). Autism and developmental receptive language disorder—A follow-up comparison in early adult life: Social, behavioral, and psychiatric outcomes. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 41, 561–578.
Koegel, L. K., Koegel, R. L., Bruinsma, Y., Brookman, L., & Fredeen, R. (2003). Teaching first words to children with autism and communication delays using pivotal response training. Santa Barbara: University of California.
Koegel, R. L., Dunlap, G., & Dyer, K. (1980). Intertrial interval duration and learning in autistic children. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 13, 91–99.
Koegel, R. L., Dunlap, G., Richman, G. S., & Dyer, K. (1981). The use of specific orienting cues for teaching discrimination tasks. Analysis and Intervention in Developmental Disabilities, 1, 187–198.
Koegel, R. L., & Koegel, L. K. (2006). Pivotal response treatments for autism: Communication, social, and academic development. Baltimore: Brookes.
Koegel, R. L., Shirotova, L., & Koegel, L. K. (in press). Brief report: Using individualized orienting cues to facilitate first-word acquisition in nonresponders with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.
Lovaas, O. I. (1977). The autistic child: Language development through behavior modification. New York: Irvington.
Lovaas, O. I., Koegel, R. L., & Schreibman, L. (1979). Stimulus overselectivity in autism: A review of research. Psychological Bulletin, 86, 1236–1254.
Ross, D. E., & Greer, R. D. (2003). Generalized imitation and the mand: Inducing first instances of speech in young children with autism. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 24, 58–74.
Sherer, M. R., & Schreibman, L. (2005). Individual behavioral profiles and predictors of treatment effectiveness for children with autism. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 73, 525–538.
Tsiouri, I., & Greer, R. D. (2003). Inducing vocal verbal behavior in children with severe language delays through rapid motor imitation responding. Journal of Behavioral Education, 12, 185–206.
Venter, A., Lord, C., & Schopler, E. (1992). A follow-up study of high-functioning autistic children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 33, 489–507.
Wetherby, A., & Prizant, B. M. (2000). Autism spectrum disorders: A transactional developmental perspective. Communication and language intervention series: Vol. 9. Baltimore: Brookes.
Yoder, P., & Stone, W. L. (2006). A randomized comparison of the effect of two prelinguistic communication interventions on the acquisition of spoken communication in preschoolers with ASD. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 49, 698–711.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
We acknowledge Research Grants MH28210 and DC 010924 from the National Institutes of Health and thank all of the undergraduate research assistants and families who assisted and participated in this research.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Koegel, R.L., Shirotova, L. & Koegel, L.K. Antecedent stimulus control: Using orienting cues to facilitate first-word acquisition for nonresponders with autism. BEHAV ANALYST 32, 281–284 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03392190
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03392190