Effects of the possibility of self-report omission and reinforcer loss on children's do-say correspondence

• Grant number: 15/10145-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2015
• End date: August 20, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Experimental Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Mariéle de Cássia Diniz Cortez
• Grantee: Mariana Quessada Macca
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 16/05989-9 - Investigating and establishing tact as self-reporting in children with autism, BE.EP.IC

Abstract

The present proposal takes into account that the verbal responding is an operant behavior established and maintained by contingencies of reinforcement and therefore it is possible to be analyzed as a dependent variable. The aims of this study are to evaluate, in a baseline condition, the pattern of six children's self-report on their performance on a reading task (correspondence, non-correspondence or omission), and verify the effects of the withdrawal of points contingent upon to the pattern of reporting which frequency was higher in baseline condition. Doing will consist of reading a word aloud and saying will consist of reporting on their performance on the reading task. The following experimental conditions will be implemented: baseline (to investigate the children's pattern of reporting, in terms of correspondence, non-correspondence or omission); withdrawal of points contingent upon to the most frequent reporting pattern at baseline (to verify the effect of the withdrawal of reinforces contingent upon to a specific type of verbal report) and a correspondence training (only in cases when it is necessary to restore previous levels of correspondence). Reinforces will be points exchangeable for items (toys and scholar supplies). Results will be analyzed in terms of each type of report (correspondence, non-correspondence or omission) in the different experimental conditions.