What is it about?
We wanted to know if we could improve the speed of learning by using a procedure that paired different sounds with different reinforcers (or rewards). The study showed that on average children learnt faster when the sounds and reinforcers were paired.
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Why is it important?
Children with autism often have trouble learning how to discriminate between different sounds. While therapists and teachers have a number of tools to help overcome this, these skills can sometimes take a long time to learn. The stud shows that pairing the sounds with different reinforcers can improve learning for some children, and more research should be done to explore the potential benefits.
Perspectives
Very little research has been done around teaching sounds (rather than pictures). This seems to be a particularly difficult skill, and one that might have implications for learning speech.
Miss Jessica McCormack
University of Auckland
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The differential outcomes effect in children with autism, Behavioral Interventions, June 2017, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1002/bin.1489.
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