Date of Defense

4-25-2016

Date of Graduation

4-2016

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Richard Malott

Second Advisor

Gaige Johnson

Abstract

The present study evaluated the effectiveness of picture prompts in the acquisition of receptive language. Receptive language training is the ability to listen to and understand what is being communicated (Miller, Carp, Petursdottir, 2009). Receptive language training requires the acquisition of auditory-visual conditional discriminations. In receptive language training the child must attend to the auditory and comparison stimuli. This is sometimes an issue for children with autism. Previous research has shown that receptive language training can be facilitated through the use of picture prompts (Fisher, Kodak, & Moore, 2007). The participant for the study was 3 years old. He was selected from an Early Special Education Classroom that follows a behavioral curriculum. The current intervention was a replication of the study conducted by Fisher, Kodak, and Moore (2007). The intervention assessed the effectiveness of picture prompts (which were systematically faded out) with an already existing procedure in the school’s curriculum. Results demonstrated that the picture prompts led to faster acquisition of target objects than with the use of the standard least to most prompting strategies previously utilized. Acquisition of receptive language will lead to the acquisition of the necessary skills to succeed in future educational settings.

Access Setting

Honors Thesis-Open Access

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