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性的问题，因为它可能会影响功能性学者和辅助/替代交流（AAC）的刺激控制。过度选择性是指智力障碍儿童普遍存在的学习适应不良的狭隘关注。过度选择性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，主要是基于未能捕捉特殊教育课程的复杂和动态关系学习方面的程序。最近的研究已经产生了方法来研究过度选择性的背景下，模型教学的情况下，以及有前途的补救措施，可以减少或消除过度选择性出席矫正治疗和/或行为假体。我们提出了一个正式的比较刺激过度选择性在四个研究人群：MA和CA匹配的儿童ASD，唐氏综合征，和智力残疾的混合/病因不明;和MA匹配的典型发育中的儿童。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，面部照片和印刷文字）。我们将确定ASD诊断是否与以下因素有关：（1）过度选择性刺激控制的患病率或严重程度增加;（2）注意力脱离和/或对刺激的知觉连贯性漠不关心的缺陷;（3）干预和补救训练的有效性、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作是否可以用于识别和改善过度选择性，过度选择性来自于注意力偏差与特殊教育环境中通常使用的教学程序中不受控制的强化偶然性的相互作用。最后，（5）我们将进行一系列的应用研究，以检查在特殊教育课堂上的学业任务的补救干预措施的普遍性和持久性。拟议的研究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。由此产生的知识的应用似乎极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.