Relational responding: Testing, training, and sequencing effects among children with autism and typically developing children.

Abstract

Relational Frame Theory (RFT) proposes that derived relational responding is crucial to the development of verbal behavior. According to RFT, typicallydeveloping children acquire the ability to derive relations through natural language interactions. In contrast, children with autism often do not acquire these skills as readily and require interventions to target their development. Limited research has examined the optimal training context for establishing the core relational skills, such as the sequence in which the relations might be optimally trained. The current research comprised three studies to investigate the emergence of specific relational responding repertoires in typicallydeveloping children and children with autism. The results demonstrate that the typicallydeveloping children had a fluent repertoire of these relational skills, while those with autism demonstrated significant deficits. The results shed some light on the possible role of training sequence.

Using Relational Training to Improve Performance During Acceptance and Commitment Training Sessions

“…There are several potential explanations as to why ACT as a stand-alone intervention failed to produce a significant decrease in participants' maladaptive behavior. Individuals diagnosed with autism often show deficits in various relational frames, and these deficits have been found to be significantly related to language abilities (Devany et al, 1986;Kent et al, 2017;Rehfeldt et al, 2007). ACT protocols often involve experiential exercises, metaphors, and discussion of private events that are abstract and covert (Luoma et al, 2007), and the language-based intervention could be less effective if individuals cannot reliably understand the clinician.…”

“…From this perspective, practitioners should pay special attention to the client's ability to engage in arbitrarily applicable relational responding, as verbally capable individuals may still have underlying deficits in derived relational responding (Sutton et al, under review;Barnes-Holmes et al, 2000;Dixon et al, 2015). This should especially be the case for practitioners working with clients diagnosed with autism, as they often demonstrate difficulties in relational framing (Devany et al, 1986;Kent et al, 2017).…”

Using the Teacher IRAP (T-IRAP) interactive computerized programme to teach complex flexible relational responding with children with diagnosed autism spectrum disorder

“…It may be that educators expect that students who successfully learn same relations will derive different relations without being explicitly taught. Unlike typically developing children, children with ASD may not readily derive such verbal relations, but it may be important to ensure that the early basic nonarbitrary coordination and distinction relations are firmly established with children with ASD before moving on to the more complex arbitrary relations, as research on sequencing in relational training suggests that learning basic same/different relations with stimuli that are physically similar or different is foundational to establishing a repertoire of more complex arbitrary relational responding with abstract stimuli (Kent et al, 2017). The PEAK-ABA relational assessment and training curricula may be useful in this regard, as it sets out procedures to assess and teach fundamental relations, such as coordination, in clear, easy-to-follow detail.…”

“…An example of learning arbitrary comparative relations would be discriminating that a small coin may be more valuable than a large coin (for a comprehensive account of arbitrarily applicable relational responding and socially designated relations, see Hayes et al, 2001). Theoretically, it seems likely that nonarbitrary relations are more basic and that learning these will facilitate subsequently learning arbitrary relational responding, and there are preliminary supporting studies (Hayes et al, 2001;Kent, Galvin, Barnes-Holmes, Murphy, & Barnes-Holmes, 2017).…”

Teoria ram relacyjnych (Relational Frame Theory, RFT) – współczesne, behawioralne podejście do języka i umiejętności poznawczych. Zastosowanie w terapii dzieci z zaburzeniami ze spektrum autyzmu

“…Mimo rosnącej liczby badań ukazujących efektywność interwencji nakierowanych na uczenie reagowania relacyjnego (Dunne, Foody, Barnes-Holmes, Barnes-Holmes, Murphy, 2014;Kent, Galvin, Barnes-Holmes, Murphy, Barnes-Holmes, 2017;Weil i in., 2011) wciąż pozostaje wiele niewiadomych dotyczących chociażby kolejności uczenia poszczególnych ram relacyjnych. Przedstawiciele RFT sugerują, że zdolności ramowania w relacjach koordynacji, wyróżnienia, porównania i przeciwieństwa ułatwiają rozwój relacji deiktycznych, odpowiadających za zaawansowane umiejętności społeczne -w tym przyjmowanie perspektywy (Luciano i in., 2009).…”