Crianças autistas com e sem ecoico generalizado: um estudo exploratório sobre o ensino do comportamento de ouvinte

Abstract

Several studies have been developed to install, increase and improve verbal behavior, especially in people with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Recent research suggests that in some cases, the acquisition of a verbal operant can give rise to others, without specific training. This focus on emergent verbal behaviors advocates that a response acquired under the control of the conditions of one verbal operant is transferred to the conditions of another, without direct instruction. The objective of the present study was to analyze the effects of listener training on the tact repertoire of autistic children with and without generalized echoic. Nine children participated in the study and were divided into two groups: group 1 - participants who presented a generalized echoic repertoire (P1, P2, P3, P4) and group 2 - participants who did not present a generalized echoic repertoire (P5, P6, P7, P8, P9). The procedures followed the following steps: 1- assessment of sitting behavior; 2- assessment of visual contact under instructional control; 3- behavioral assessment of initial repertoire; 4- assessment of generalized echoic; 5- listener and speaker baseline; 6-generalized echoic and motor imitation probe; 7- listener training; 8- speaker test (P1, P2, P3, P4, P5); 9- additional training (P6, P7, P8); 10- simple simultaneous discrimination (P6); 11- generalized echoic and motor imitation probe (P6, P7, P8, P9); 12- behavioral reassessment. As it is an exploratory study, it must be considered inconclusive, however it allows the establishment of important correlations between the data collected. All participants who presented the generalized echoic repertoire at baseline learned the auditory-visual (listener) discrimination of abstract stimuli Omega and Pi, with a relatively reduced number of teaching sessions (between four and fourteen sessions), and presented the rapidly emerging naming/tact relations (between three and eight sessions). On the other hand, participants who did not present a generalized echoic repertoire at baseline were unable to learn the listener and speaker repertoires of the same stimuli, although significant numbers of teaching sessions were carried out, as well as the insertion of alternative teaching and/or adjustments to teaching procedures. These results, in general, corroborate the proposal of Goyos (2018), who considers the generalized echoic repertoire as a prerequisite for more complex verbal/vocal skills and for socialization.