Habilidades rítmicas para crianças com autismo com procedimentos da Análise do Comportamento Aplicada

Abstract

Children receive the diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) when they present deficits in social communication and interaction and restricted and repetitive behaviors and interests. Studies suggest that using appropriate strategies for teaching music to people with ASD can contribute to an environment favorable to music learning, as well as developing appropriate social behaviors and possible decreases in inappropriate behaviors. The objective of this work was to investigate the learning of rhythmic skills with the use of musical instruments with children diagnosed with ASD, using behavioral intervention. As secondary objectives, to verify if the engagement in the tasks of teaching with musical activities would lead to the reduction of the frequency of inappropriate behaviors and increase of appropriate social behaviors. The method has indirect evaluation of reinforcers and participants’ characterization of input musical repertoire. A multiple baseline design across musical repertoires was used, in which the participant was taught to play a musical instrument, following a pre-established rhythm with a motor imitation procedure. The learning criterion was three consecutive independent responses. In general, the results indicate that all participants were able to perform and apprehend the musical pulse generalizing it for all the songs proposed for this study. This study corroborated other studies that showed the effectiveness of musical activities as a mean to develop and increase appropriate behaviors and diminish those that are socially unfit. It is hoped that the study will contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between teaching of musical skills and behavioral intervention for people with ASD in order to subsidize educational actions and indicate new studies to be conducted.