Abstract
Communication deficits in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can manifest in a myriad of lifelong social and educational challenges. Many children with ASD fail to learn vocal verbal behavior and may require intensive individualized intervention to learn early verbal operants. The current research aimed to evaluate the effects of a parent delivered stimulus-stimulus pairing (SSP) procedure on target vocalizations of two young children with ASD who did not present with vocal verbal behavior. Results indicated the intervention was successful in increasing the frequency of the target vocalizations for both participants. Social validity results indicated that parents were satisfied with the intervention and their own implementation of these procedures. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for parent delivered interventions.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.). Washington DC: Author.
Anderson, D. K., Lord, C., Risi, S., DiLavore, P. S., Shulman, C., Thurm, A., Welch, K., & Pickles, A. (2007). Patterns of growth in verbal abilities among children with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 75(4), 594–604. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.75.4.594
Bellini, S., Peters, J. K., Benner, L., & Hopf, A. (2007). A meta-analysis of school-based social skills interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders. Remedial and Special Education, 28, 153–162. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chc.2008.06.008
Bondy, A. S., & Frost, L. A. (1994). The picture exchange communication system. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 9(3), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1177/108835769400900301
Carroll, R. A., & Klatt, K. P. (2008). Using stimulus-stimulus pairing and direct reinforcement to teach vocal verbal behavior to young children with autism. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 24(1), 135–146.
Charlop-Christy, M. H., Carpenter, M., Le, L., LeBlanc, L. A., & Kellet, K. (2002). Using the picture exchange communication system (PECS) with children with autism: Assessment of PECS acquisition, speech, social-communicative behavior, and problem behavior. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis., 35, 213–231. https://doi.org/10.1901/jaba.2002.35-213
Dunlap, G., Strain, P.S., Fox, L., Carta, J.J., Conroy, M., Smith, B.J., … Sowell, C. (2006). Prevention and intervention with young children’s challenging behavior: Perspectives regarding current knowledge. Behavioral Disorders, 32, 29–45.
Esch, B. E., Carr, J. E., & Grow, L. L. (2009). Evaluation of an enhanced stimulus–stimulus pairing procedure to increase early vocalizations of children with autism. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 42(2), 225–241. https://doi.org/10.1901/jaba.2009.42-225
Esch, B. E., Carr, J. E., & Michael, J. (2005). Evaluating stimulus-stimulus pairing and direct reinforcement in the establishment of an echoic repertoire of children diagnosed with autism. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 21, 43–58.
Falk, D. (2004). Prelinguistic evolution in early hominins: Whence motherese? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 27(04), 491–503. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X04000111
Feldman, R. S. (2011). Life Span Development a Topical Approach. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson.
Fisher, W. W., Piazza, C. C., Bowman, L. G., & Amari, A. (1996). Integrating caregiver report with a systematic choice assessment. American Journal on Mental Retardation, 101, 15–25.
Greer, R. D., & McCorkle, N. P. (2003). CABAS® Curriculum and Inventory of Repertoires for Children From Pre-School Through Kindergarten. Yonkers, NY: CABAS.
Kelley, M. E., Shillingsburg, M. A., Castro, M. J., Addison, L. R., & LaRue, R. H. (2007). Further evaluation of emerging speech in children with developmental disabilities: Training verbal behavior. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 40, 431–445. https://doi.org/10.1901/jaba.2007.40-431
Matson, J. L., Mahan, S., & LoVullo, S. V. (2009). Parent training: A review of methods for children with developmental disabilities. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 30(5), 961–968. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2009.01.009
McConachie, H., & Diggle, T. (2007). Parent implemented early intervention for young children with autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, 13(1), 120–129. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2753.2006.00674.x
Miguel, C. F., Carr, J. E., & Michael, J. (2002). The effects of a stimulus-stimulus pairing procedure on the vocal behavior of children diagnosed with autism. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 18, 3–13.
Miliotis, A., Sidener, T. M., Reeve, K. F., Carbone, V., Sidener, D. W., Rader, L., & Delmolino, L. (2012). An evaluation of the number of presentations of target sounds during stimulus—stimulus pairing trials. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 45(4), 809–813. https://doi.org/10.9101/jaba.2012.45-809
Mulhern, T., Lydon, S., Healy, O., Mollaghan, G., Ramey, D., & Leoni, M. (2016). A systematic review and evaluation of procedures for the induction of speech among persons with developmental disabilities. Developmental Neurohabilitation, 20(4), 207–227. https://doi.org/10.3109/17518423.2016.1150360
Normand, M. P., & Knoll, M. L. (2006). The effects of a stimulus-stimulus pairing procedure on the unprompted vocalizations of a young child diagnosed with autism. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 22(1), 81–85.
Petursdottir, A. I., & Lepper, T. L. (2015). Inducing novel vocalizations by conditioning speech sounds as reinforcers. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 8, 223–232. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-015-0088-6
Rader, L., Sidener, T. M., Reeve, K. F., Sidener, D. W., Delmolino, L., Miliotis, A., & Carbone, V. (2014). Stimulus-stimulus pairing of vocalizations: A systematic replication. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 30(1), 69–74. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40616-014-0012-0
Rao, P. A., Beidel, D. C., & Murray, M. J. (2008). Social skills interventions for children with Asperger’s syndrome or high-functioning autism: A review and recommendations. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38, 353–361. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-007-0402-4
Saint-Georges, C., Chetouani, M., Cassel, R., Apicella, F., Mahdhaoui, A., Muratori, F., Laznik, M., & Cohen, D. (2013). Motherese in interaction: At the cross-road of emotion and cognition? (A systematic review). PLoS One, 8(10), e78103. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0078103
Shillingsburg, A. M., Hollander, D. L., Yosick, R. N., Bowen, C., & Muskat, L. R. (2015). Stimulus-stimulus pairing to increase vocalizations in children with language delays: A review. Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 31, 215–235. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40616-015-0042-2
Skinner, B. F. (1957). Verbal Behavior. New York: Appleton Century-Crofts.
Smith, R., Michael, J., & Sundberg, M. L. (1996). Automatic reinforcement and automatic punishment in infant vocal behavior. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 13, 39–48.
Stock, R. A., Schulze, K. A., & Mirenda, P. (2008). A comparison of stimulus-stimulus pairing, standard echoic training, and control procedures on the vocal behavior of children with autism. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 24(1), 123–133.
Sundberg, M. L., Michael, J., Partington, J. W., & Sundberg, C. A. (1996). The role of automatic reinforcement in early language acquisition. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 13, 21–37.
Sundberg, M. L., & Partington, J. W. (1998). Teaching Language to Children with Autism or Other Developmental Disabilities. Pleasant Hill, CA: Behavior Analysts, Inc..
Vernon, T. W. (2014). Fostering a social child with autism: A moment-by-moment sequential analysis of an early social engagement intervention. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 44, 3072–3082. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-014-2173-z
Watkins, L., O’Reilly, M., Kuhn, M., Gevarter, C., Lancioni, G. E., Sigafoos, J., & Lang, R. (2015). A review of peer-mediated social interaction interventions for students with autism in inclusive settings. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 45, 1070–1083. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-014-2264-x
Yoon, S., & Feliciano, G. M. (2007). Stimulus-stimulus pairing and subsequent mand acquisition of children with various levels of verbal repertoires. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 23(1), 3–16.
Yoon, S. Y., & Bennett, G. M. (2000). Effects of a stimulus—stimulus pairing procedure on conditioning vocal sounds as reinforcers. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 17, 75–88.
Zimmerman, I. L., Steiner, V. G., & Pond, R. E. (2002). Preschool Language Scale (4th ed.). San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that we have no conflict of interest. There are no potential conflicts of interest pertaining to this research. The authors confirm there are no relationships or interests that had a direct or potential influence or impart bias on this work.
Ethical Approval
All procedures performed in this research were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Informed Consent
Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Barry, L., Holloway, J. & Gunning, C. An investigation of the effects of a parent delivered stimulus-stimulus pairing intervention on vocalizations of two children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Analysis Verbal Behav 35, 57–73 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40616-018-0094-1
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40616-018-0094-1