Understanding of Other Persons' Intentions in a Child With Autism : Environmental Cues and Generalization Using Video Discrimination Training

Abstract

Examined the independent variable of appreciating other people's intentions in a child with autism. S was an 8 yr old male with autism who had difficulty with speech in Japan. S was trained to appreciate other people's intentions when they were indicated ambiguously, by using cues from the surrounding environment. In the Exp, an adult was faced with a difficulty, such as carrying heavy luggage, completing problems on a personal computer (playing a jigsaw puzzle and answering questions in English), or lacking a partner to play games with. When this adult instructed the S to observe a room, the S, seeing a 2nd adult in the room, was observed to determine whether the S would contact the 2nd adult so that the 2nd adult could help the 1st adult. When a person without difficulties told the S to look at the room, the S was only able to report back on the status of the room, but after video discrimination training, the S was able to contact the second adult in the room. Results indicated that video training was effective in enabling an appreciation of others' intentions in a child with autism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)