Optimizing Initial Communication for Children with Autism

优化自闭症儿童的初始沟通

• 批准号: 8325640
• 负责人: WILLIAM J MCILVANE
• 金额: $ 34.85万
• 依托单位: UNIV OF MASSACHUSETTS MED SCH WORCESTER
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-09-01 至 2014-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8325640
• 关键词: Acoustic Stimulation; Age; Applied Research; Auditory; Auditory Perception; Augmentative and Alternative Communication; Autistic Disorder; Behavior Therapy; Behavioral; Child; Clinical; Cochlear Implants; Cochlear implant procedure; Collaborations; Communication; Complement; Comprehension; Data; Development; Devices; Discrimination; Effectiveness; Exhibits; Five-Year Plans; Foundations; Funding; Goals; Hearing; International; Intervention; Language; Lead; Learning; Maps; Methodology; Methods; Neurodevelopmental Disability; Neurodevelopmental Disorder; Outcome; Population; Population Study; Procedures; Process; Research; Research Personnel; Secure; Sensory Deprivation; Shapes; Source; Stimulus; Structure; Technology; Therapeutic Studies; Training; Translational Research; Visual; alternative communication; auditory discrimination; autism spectrum disorder; base; cost; deafness; design; novel; programs; response; skills; theories

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Behavioral Variability Management in Beginning Communicators This application seeks support to continue a long-term program of study aimed at effective management of behavioral variability in response to procedures designed to establish behavioral prerequisites for symbolic communication in children with neurodevelopmental disabilities. Our primary study population will be children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) who exhibit little or no apparent comprehension of spoken language and whose primary mode of communication is nonverbal. A major goal of our program has been and will continue to be to assess the potential of such children to exhibit true symbolic relations, defined operationally in terms of equivalence between physically dissimilar stimuli (e.g., between symbol and referent). A second goal, emphasized in the present project, will be to uncover and manage sources of behavioral variability in acquisition of symbolic relations. To structure our program, we will extend an approach that has achieved a directly related goal with stimulus equivalence defined by shared physical features (i.e., stimulus relations based on physical identity/similarity). Our targets will include: (a) auditory perception, discrimination, and relational learning, (b) basic and emergent symbol-referent mapping, and (c) intra- and cross-modal equivalence class formation. To supplement and complement our studies of children with ASDs, we will expand an international partnership with researchers in Brasil who are pursuing directly related research. Via this partnership, we will be able to include at little added cost a population of children with pre-lingual deafness who are recent recipients of devices that establish hearing capabilities (e.g., cochlear implants). These children also exhibit variability in acquisition of symbolic relations, thus presenting a contrast population whose symbolic relational deficits are attributable to sensory deprivation rather than ASDs. Results of our studies are likely to have significance not only for theory but also for clinical intervention with children who show deficits in acquiring symbolic relations, particularly those children who are or who may become candidates for augmentative/alternative communication training.

描述（申请人提供）：初学沟通者的行为可变性管理此申请寻求支持，以继续长期的研究计划，旨在有效地管理行为可变性，以响应旨在为神经发育残疾儿童建立象征性沟通的行为先决条件的响应。 。我们的主要研究人群将是患有自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的儿童，他们对口语的理解很少或没有明显的理解，并且其主要的交流方式是非语言的。我们计划的一个主要目标是并且将继续是评估此类孩子表现出真正的象征关系的潜力，这是根据物理上不同刺激（例如，符号和参考文献之间的等效性）在操作上定义的。在本项目中强调的第二个目标将是揭示和管理符号关系获取行为变异性的来源。为了构建我们的程序，我们将扩展一种方法，该方法通过共享物理特征（即基于物理身份/相似性）定义的刺激等效性达到了直接相关的目标。我们的目标将包括：（a）听觉感知，歧视和关系学习，（b）基本和新兴的符号 - 指示映射，以及（c）（c）内和跨模式的等效类形成。为了补充和补充我们对ASD的儿童的研究，我们将与正在追求直接相关研究的巴西研究人员扩大国际合作伙伴关系。通过这种合作伙伴关系，我们将能够添加几乎没有花费的儿童，这些儿童是最新建立听力能力的设备的接受者（例如，人工耳蜗植入物）。这些儿童还表现出在符号关系的获取方面的可变性，因此提出了对比人群，其符号关系缺陷归因于感觉剥夺而不是ASD。我们的研究结果可能不仅对理论具有重要意义，而且对于表现出获得符号关系缺陷的儿童的临床干预，尤其是那些或可能成为加强/替代交流培训的候选人的儿童。