Teaching children with autism to tact private events based on public accompaniments
Children with autism can learn to label sensations like "prickly" when you pair the word with a visible object, but you must re-teach for new sensations.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team taught children with autism to name body feelings like "prickly" or "soft."
They paired each feeling with a clear object the kids could see and touch.
A multiple-baseline design showed that three children learned the labels quickly.
What they found
Kids could say "prickly" when they saw the same brush on new body parts.
They did not say "prickly" when a new item gave the same feeling.
Extra teaching was needed to transfer the word to new sensations.
How this fits with other research
Deserno et al. (2017) and McHugh et al. (2011) already showed that children with autism can learn emotion words and use them in new places.
Rajagopal et al. (2021) extends that line to body sensations instead of feelings, using objects instead of videos.
Worsham et al. (2015) interviewed autistic children and found they can already talk about sensory experiences; this study shows we can teach the labels if they do not yet have them.
Why it matters
If a learner can tell you "wet" or "too tight," you can fix the problem before it becomes a meltdown.
Start by pairing one clear object with one feeling word, then test with new body parts.
Plan extra lessons to help the word jump to new sensations; the first success does not guarantee the second.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
We evaluated a method for teaching children with autism spectrum disorder to respond to tactile stimulation of multiple body parts. Various objects (e.g., hairbrush) produced the sensations (e.g., prickly). In a multiple baseline design across participants, participants learned 9 sensation body part tacts and the evaluation concluded with tests of generalization to 3 novel body parts, 6 novel objects, and 3 novel sensations. Participants demonstrated generalization to novel objects, and to a lesser extent, novel body parts, but did not generalize tacts to novel sensations. These findings are discussed in terms of implications for teaching children with autism to tact sensations.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 2021 · doi:10.1002/jaba.785