THE ROLE OF RESPONSE DELAY IN IMPROVING THE DISCRIMINATION PERFORMANCE OF AUTISTIC CHILDREN
- 1 June 1982
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis
- Vol. 15 (2) , 231-240
- https://doi.org/10.1901/jaba.1982.15-231
Abstract
This study investigated the influence of a response delay requirement on the discrimination performance of autistic children. In the context of a multiple baseline design with subsequent repeated reversals, two conditions were compared: a no-response-delay condition, where the child was allowed to make the target response immediately after presentation of the discriminative stimulus versus a response-delay condition, where the target response was permitted three seconds following the discriminative stimulus when the therapist would signal the child to respond. The results showed that the response-delay condition produced higher levels of correct responding than the no-response-delay condition. In addition, teachers in the research setting rated the response-delay procedure to be a practical and effective teaching technique that could be implemented in a classroom setting. The results were discussed in relation to the literature on impulsivity, and were interpreted as indicating that the response-delay procedure provides a valuable technique for teaching autistic children.Keywords
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