To evaluate whether children with and without autism could exhibit (a) function

The high number of Autism Spectrum Disorder's (ASD) cases determines a great need for specialized service for this population. This is particularly critical, considering the intensity required according to the specialized literature. Parental training may be an aff ordable alternative to provide this intervention with a high integrity and less costs, and tools such as videomodeling may facilitate the effi ciency of such training procedures. This work aimed to evaluate, with strict experimental control, the effi ciency of instructional videomodeling while training parents of children with ASD to implement Discrete Trial Instruction. Three mother-child dyads participated: Beatriz (27 years) and Luan (3 years); Eliana (30 years old) and Igor (2 years old); Vanessa (40 years old) and Daniel (4 years old). The results showed an increase in the performance accuracy of all mothers in the application of discrete trials, with an average duration of 4 hours. It is possible that this type of instructional tool has an eff ect on motivation and broadly promotes access to training contingencies, unlike the limitations of face-to-face training. However, it is important to emphasize that this tool only reaches its full function if it is inserted within a broader training program.

A go/no-go procedure with compound stimuli typically establishes emergent behavior that parallels in structure and typical outcome that of conventional tests for symmetric, transitive, and equivalence relations in normally capable adults. The present study employed a go/no-go compound stimulus procedure with pigeons. During training, pecks to two-component compounds A1B1, A2B2, B1C1, and B2C2 were followed by food. Pecks to compounds A1B2, A2B1, B1C2, and B2C1 re-started the 30-s stimulus presentation interval. The absence of pecking to those compounds for 30 s ended the trial. Subsequent tests presented these components in new spatial arrangements and/or in recombinative compounds that together corresponded to conventional tests of symmetry, transitivity, and equivalence: B1A1, B2A2, C1B1, C2B2, A1C1, A2C2, C1A1, C2A2 vs. B1A2, B2A1, C1B2, C2B1, A1C2, A2C1, C1A2, C2A1 (positive vs. negative instances of symmetric, transitive, and equivalence relations). On tests for symmetric relations, all pigeons behaved in a manner consistent with training on both positive instances (i.e., by responding) and on negative instances (i.e., by not responding). By contrast, the pigeons' behavior on tests for transitivity and equivalence was inconsistent with baseline training, thus failing to show the recombinative discrimination performance that is typical of normally capable humans when trained and tested using the go/no-go procedure with compound stimuli.

O presente artigo é um texto didático introdutório ao tema do comportamento verbal, numa perspectiva analítico-comportamental. Caracteriza-se o comportamento verbal como comportamento operante. Apresentam-se aspectos distintivos entre o comportamento verbal e os demais comportamentos operantes. Algumas categorias básicas de comportamento verbal são referidas ao final do texto.

Este estudo avaliou a eficácia de um conjunto de procedimentos de ensino, composto por videomodelação, instrução escrita e role-play com feedback imediato, para ensinar cuidadores a manejar comportamentos inadequados emitidos por crianças com transtorno do espectro do autismo (TEA). Foi aplicado um delineamento de linha de base múltipla entre dois pares de cuidadores. A variável dependente foi a precisão de desempenho dos cuidadores no manejo de comportamentos inadequados, medida pelo percentual de passos do procedimento para manejar comportamentos inadequados executados corretamente. A variável independente foi a implementação do conjunto de procedimentos que ensinava os comportamentos necessários para manejar comportamentos inadequados. Os resultados mostram que o procedimento utilizado foi eficaz para ensinar o manejo de comportamentos inadequados para cuidadores de crianças com TEA. A eficiência do procedimento é demonstrada pelo fato de que o número de sessões necessárias para alcançar critério de aprendizagem foi pequeno, sendo, portanto, uma possibilidade viável de intervenção comportamental voltada para cuidadores de pessoas com TEA.