Stimulus Control in Applied Work with Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder from the Signalling and the Strengthening Perspective
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2021Metadata
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Wood, A. & Simon, C. (2021). Stimulus Control in Applied Work with Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder from the Signalling and the Strengthening Perspective. Norsk Tidsskrift for Atferdsanalyse (NTA), 48(2), 279-293. https://nta.atferd.no/journalissue.aspx?IdDocument=986Abstract
Experimentally and theoretically oriented behaviour analysts have predominantly debated the usefulness of the ‘response strength’ concept. We analysed applied studies to open the discussion on the usefulness of ‘response strength’ versus an alternative view on understanding how the past controls current behaviour in applied contexts. This review examined five studies that focused on evaluating an intervention using stimulus control Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA)-based techniques to teach skills to children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The review aims to understand if behaviour change in applied studies is most straightforwardly understood as driven by the most recent past events or by likely future events extrapolated from more extended past patterns of events. The former is the basis of the concept of response strength. In the latter view, behaviour is exhaustively accounted for by identifying an extended pattern of events in the environment, which signals to the organism which behaviour will most likely produce a reinforcer. The findings of each study are analysed separately from both the signalling and the strengthening perspective. The results suggest that the signalling view provides a more comprehensive understanding of behaviour modification interventions in children with ASD. Implications for future research are also discussed.