Investigating and establishing tact as self-reporting in children with autism

• Grant number: 16/05989-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: January 05, 2017
• End date: April 28, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Experimental Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Mariéle de Cássia Diniz Cortez
• Grantee: Mariana Quessada Macca
• Supervisor: Thomas Sean Higbee
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Utah State University (USU), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 15/10145-1 - Effects of the possibility of self-report omission and reinforcer loss on children's do-say correspondence, BP.IC

Abstract

Most of the studies that investigated tact repertories in children with autism have focused on tact as labeling (i.e., naming objects, events, actions). Few of them have directly targeted tact as functional communication such as reporting. The aim of this study is to examine whether children with high functioning autism can report on their own past behavior and whether they can acquire and generalize tacts with the function of self-reporting. A multiple-baseline design will be implemented to evaluate 1) children`s self-report accuracy and 2) the effects of the intervention (self-reporting training). During baseline, the self-reporting pattern of children with high functioning autism will be examined, using the same task (playing with toys and reporting on their own playing behavior to a listener) employed in Ribeiro (1989). For children who do not present the ability of self-reporting, a reporting training, using vocal prompts, will be implemented. Generalization will also be evaluated. Results will be analyzed considering the frequency of accurate and non-accurate children`s self-report throughout the different experimental conditions. (AU)