Contingency Analyses of Observing and Attending in Intellectual Disabilities

描述（由申请人提供）：本申请寻求研究支持，以解决刺激过度选择问题，因为它可能影响功能学术和增强/替代交流（AAC）中的刺激控制。过度选择性是指智力障碍儿童普遍存在的一种学习问题，即不适应狭窄的学习方式。过度选择通常与自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）有关，但这种关系的研究基础是不确定的，而且主要基于未能捕捉特殊教育课程中复杂和动态的关系学习方面的程序。最近的研究已经产生了研究教学情境中过度选择性的方法，以及有希望的补救程序，可以通过纠正治疗和/或行为修复来减少或消除过度选择性的参加。我们建议在四个研究人群中对刺激过度选择性进行正式比较：MA和ca匹配的ASD、唐氏综合征和病因不明的智力残疾儿童；以及与ma匹配的正常发育儿童。测试将包括为基础研究开发的刺激，以及临床/教育兴趣的刺激集（AAC图标、人脸照片和印刷文字）。我们将确定ASD诊断是否与(1)过度选择性刺激控制的患病率或严重程度增加有关；(2)对刺激的知觉一致性的注意脱离和/或冷漠的缺陷；(3)干预和补救培训的有效性、持久性和净收益。我们还将应用注意力的行为分析定量模型(4)来确定强化参数的策略操纵是否可以用于识别和改善过度选择，这种过度选择是由注意偏差与特殊教育环境中典型使用的教学过程中不受控制的强化偶然事件相互作用产生的。最后，(5)我们将进行一系列的应用研究，以检验特殊教育课堂上学业任务补救干预的普遍性和持久性。这些研究的结果将有助于更好地描述与研究人群相关的学习问题，并增加对学习中基本刺激控制过程的理解。应用由此产生的知识似乎很有可能改善目前的教学和评估智障人士的方法。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application seeks support for research to address the problem of stimulus overselectivity as it may impact stimulus control in functional academics and augmentative/alternative communication (AAC). Overselectivity refers to maladaptive narrow attending that is a common learning problem in children with intellectual disabilities. Overselectivity is often associated with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), but the research foundation for this relation is inconclusive and largely based on procedures that fail to capture the complex and dynamic relational learning aspects of special-education curricula. Recent research has produced methodologies to study overselectivity in contexts that model teaching situations, as well as promising remedial procedures that can reduce or eliminate overselective attending by corrective therapy and/or behavioral prostheses. We propose a formal comparison of stimulus overselectivity in four study populations: MA- and CA-matched children with ASD, Down syndrome, and intellectual disabilities of mixed/unknown etiology; and MA-matched typically developing children. Tests will include stimuli developed for basic research, as well as stimulus sets of clinical/educational interest (AAC icons, photos of faces, and printed words). We will determine whether an ASD diagnosis is related to (1) increased prevalence or severity of overselective stimulus control; (2) a deficit in the disengagement of attention and/or indifference to perceptual coherence of stimuli; and (3) the effectiveness, durability, and net gain resulting from intervention and remedial training. We will also apply behavior-analytic quantitative models of attention (4) to determine whether strategic manipulations of reinforcement parameters can be used to identify and ameliorate overselectivity that emerges from attention biases interacting with the uncontrolled reinforcement contingencies of teaching procedures typically used in special-education settings. Finally, (5) we will conduct a series of applied studies to examine generalization and durability of remedial interventions for academic tasks in special-education classrooms. Results of the proposed studies will contribute to a better characterization of the learning problems associated with the study populations and to increased understanding of basic stimulus control processes in learning. Application of the resulting knowledge seems highly likely to improve current methods for teaching and evaluating individuals with intellectual disabilities. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The proposed research is highly relevant to the public health interests of NICHD and its Mental Retardation Developmental Disabilities Branch because it will contribute to the improvement of evaluation and teaching methods for individuals with autism and other intellectual disabilities. Specific areas of application include improvements in functional communication capabilities for children with moderate to severe disabilities.