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AN ALTERNATING TREATMENTS COMPARISON OF ORAL AND TOTAL COMMUNICATION TRAINING WITH MINIMALLY VERBAL RETARDED CHILDREN
Author(s) -
Sisson Lori A.,
Barrett Rowland P.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
journal of applied behavior analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1938-3703
pISSN - 0021-8855
DOI - 10.1901/jaba.1984.17-559
Subject(s) - sentence , repetition (rhetorical device) , psychology , sign language , multiple baseline design , chaining , audiology , nonverbal communication , augmentative and alternative communication , speech recognition , communication , natural language processing , developmental psychology , computer science , linguistics , medicine , intervention (counseling) , philosophy , psychiatry
This study was a comparison of the effects of oral speech with total communication (speech plus sign language) training on the ability of mentally retarded children to repeat 4‐word sentences. Three children were chosen who used single words to communicate but who did not combine words into complete sentences. Three sentence pairs were trained, with each pair having one sentence trained using oral methods and an equivalent one trained using the total communication approach. Both training procedures involved chaining sentence parts, reinforcement, and prompting. Oral methods involved presenting vocal stimuli and requiring vocal responses whereas total communication methods involved presenting vocal and signed stimuli and requiring vocal and signed responses. For the initial sentence pair with each child, an alternating treatments design was used to determine the relative efficacy of the two language training approaches. This was repeated with a second and third sentence pair using a multiprobe technique within a multiple baseline design. Results pointed to the superiority of the total communication approach in facilitating sentence repetition. Possible explanations of these results are offered and the utility of the alternating treatments experimental design is discussed.