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THE ROLE OF SPECIFIC CONSEQUENCES IN THE MAINTENANCE OF THREE TYPES OF QUESTIONS
Author(s) -
Williams Gladys,
PérezGonzález Luis Antonio,
Vogt Kim
Publication year - 2003
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.2003.36-285
Subject(s) - autism , psychology , object (grammar) , flexibility (engineering) , context (archaeology) , class (philosophy) , ask price , generalization , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , social psychology , artificial intelligence , epistemology , computer science , paleontology , philosophy , statistics , mathematics , economy , economics , biology
This research replicated and extended a study by Williams, Donley, and Keller (2000). In that study, children with autism received a box with an object inside and learned to ask “What's that?,” “Can I see it?,” and “Can I have it?” to have the name of the object, to see the object, and to get the object, respectively. The purpose of the present research was to determine if the three questions (a) were three independent repertoires of behavior, (b) constituted three instances of a single functional response class, or (c) belonged to a chain of behavior. The 3 boys with autism who participated responded independently to each question when the consequences for each question were altered. This indicates that the three target responses were three independent repertoires of behavior, each one reinforced and maintained with its specific consequences. Thus, this procedure serves to teach children with autism to ask questions with flexibility according to a variable context.