Behavioral Technology for Teaching Symbolic Relations

描述(申请人提供)：该第二阶段项目将完成一种主要用于教育智障儿童的基于计算机的产品的开发和研究。这款名为“SymbolTeacher”的产品解决了一项关键技能--与样本的符号匹配--这是目前许多教育这一群体的计划的目标。在符号匹配任务中，向学生展示一组二维或三维刺激，并要求他们选择与样本相匹配的项目；因此，他们被命名为“与样本相匹配”。与身份匹配到样本的任务不同，在这种任务中，匹配是基于物理身份进行的，而符号匹配涉及的刺激是不相同的；匹配是基于指令和反馈进行的。例如，学生被教导将狗的图片(所指)与印刷的单词狗(符号)相匹配；没有物理刺激属性来定义符号-所指关系，因此，如果学生以前没有使用过刺激，那么刺激中就没有固有的东西来指导学生。该项目有两个主要目标。首先，我们将采用成熟的、经过广泛研究的实验室方法和软件，供家长、教师和其他帮助专业人员使用。其次，我们将对生成的产品进行评估，以确定它可以在典型的教学情景中有效使用。人们显然需要这种产品。符号匹配为教授各种辨别、阅读准备和符号交流技能提供了基础。然而，许多智障儿童并不容易(或根本不)通过传统的教学方法学习符号匹配。在过去的十年里，对NIH研究资金的大量投资导致了能够可靠地在残疾儿童中建立象征性匹配的方法的发展。尽管取得了这些进展，但相关知识和工具并不容易为专业人士、家长和儿童所用，他们将从中受益。我们将使用STTR资助机制，让人们更广泛地使用这项行为技术。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This Phase II project will complete the development and study of a computer-based product intended primarily for teaching children with intellectual disabilities. The product, "SymbolTeacher," addresses a pivotal skill - symbolic matching to sample - which is a target of many current programs for teaching this population. In a symbolic matching task, students are presented with an array of two- or three-dimensional stimuli and required to select the item that "goes with" a sample; hence the name "matching to sample." Unlike an identity matching-to-sample task, in which a match is made on the basis of physical identity, symbolic matches involve stimuli that are not identical; matches are made on the basis of instruction and feedback. For example, a student is taught to match the picture of a dog (referent) to the printed word DOG (symbol); there are no physical stimulus properties that define the symbol-referent relation, and thus nothing inherent in the stimuli to guide the student if he or she has had no previous experience with them. The project has two major objectives. First, we will adapt well developed, extensively researched laboratory methods and software for use by parents, teachers, and other helping professionals. Second, we will evaluate the resulting product to determine that it can be used effectively in typical teaching situations. There is a manifest need for the product. Symbolic matching provides a foundation for teaching a large variety of discrimination, reading readiness, and symbolic communication skills. However, many children with intellectual disabilities do not learn symbolic matching readily (or at all) via conventional instructional methods. Over the past decade, a substantial investment of NIH research funding has led to the development of methods that can reliably establish symbolic matching in children with disabilities. Despite these advances, the relevant knowledge and tools are not readily accessible to the professionals, parents, and children who would benefit. We will use the STTR funding mechanism to give broader access to this behavioral technology.