Mathematics for students with autism: use of ocular measures in the teaching of relations between stimuli

• Grant number: 20/04777-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): February 01, 2021
• Effective date (End): January 31, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Experimental Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Priscila Benitez
• Grantee: Thainá Letícia Dourado Moura
• Host Institution: Centro de Matemática, Computação e Cognição (CMCC). Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC). Ministério da Educação (Brasil). Santo André , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The school inclusion of students with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) shows reflections on the pedagogical performances in the basic areas such as literacy and mathematics. The teaching of mathematics based on the stimulus equivalence model has been recommended for people with varied repertoires, including students with ASD. Information on the visual processing of stimuli during the performance of teaching and assessment tasks are elementary implicit measures for proposing intervention strategies, as well as after re-planning data. The study aims to evaluate whether a teaching procedure based on the stimulus equivalence model between equal/different, major/minor, very/little, numbers (from one to nine) and respective quantities will be sufficient for: a) learning discrimination equal/different, major/minor, very/little and numbers from 1 to 9 and respective quantities; b) identification of strategies that will be used by students with ASD, based on the analysis of implicit measures (time and number of gaze fixations for stimuli, time spent on saccadic movements and the path taken by the student's eyes during the tasks) during the application of the teaching procedure. Three students with ASD will be recruited who already participate in a broader research proposal. A multiple tests scheme will be employed. The general procedure will involve a planning stage and a data application and analysis stage. It is expected to find greater ocular fixation in the correct stimuli, as students will reach the criterion for learning the specific behaviors that will be taught throughout the procedure.