Perspective-taking is a relatively new field within Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), but there are more research on this field published now. Perspective-taking has been mostly investigated within Relational Frame Theory (RFT). According to RFT perspective taking is derived relational responding within the dietetic frames of I-You, Here-There, and Now-Then. This responding has to be both simple, reversed and double reversed.
Much of the research on perspective-taking have been using the Barnes-Holmes protocol, witch have shown to be a useful approach. But this protocol is highly structured, and may not be easily implemented into every day teaching. Now Dalvin, Rehfeld and Lovett have published a study in European Journal of Behavior Analysis using common Children´s stories to teach this kind of relational responding. Their study shows promising results using these common Children´s stories, and provide a framework of teaching perspective taking with in more naturalistic setting.
Hierarchical classifications is an important form of responding that most people engage in every day, and is characterized by three features: transitive class containment, asymmetry and property inheritance. Transitive class containment involves that if A is a member of class B , and B is a member of C, then A is also a member of C. Asymmetry involves that if class C contains class B, class B do not contain class C. Property inheritance of course involves that the properties of the superordinate class are shared with all members of subordinate classes, but not the other way.
In Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 96(2), Slattery, Steward, and O´Hara has published a study involving three experiment investigating responding consistent with transitive class containment. The first one replicating Griffe & Dougher (2002). This article describes the procedures and gives great pussobilites for further research in an important area, for therapy and education.
Play skills, including symbolic play skills, is one of the areas children with autism experience difficulties, and better understanding of what factors contributing to these challenges and interventions promoting symbolic play is important for more effective interventions for preschoolers with autism.
In Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, Lam and Yeung has published a study investigating symbolic play in children with autism and children with typical development, and evaluated different theories that may contribute to the difference in symbolic play. This study showed that children with autism demonstrated significantly less symbolic play, and draws the tentative conclusion that these deficits are associated with difficulties in theory of mind and weak central coherence.
Based on this conclusion interventions focusing on theory of mind and central coherence within an intensive program for children with autism should be prioritized.
Emotions and especially language skills related to emotions is a often occurring challenge for children with autism. In Early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) this may be taught through discrete trial teaching or based on natural environment teaching/pivotal response treatment. In this issue of Journal of autism and other developmental disorders Louise McHugh and colleagues have published a brief report on teaching emotions to children with autism using video based scenarios.
In this study three participants viewed 48 different video stories illustrating four different emotions 10 times pr day in the intervention period. Each video lasted from 2-5 minutes. During the video the instructors asked questions related to the target emotion, applying reinforcement and prompting strategies used in EIBI programs.
The results of this study indicates that this intervention were successful in establishing a tacting repertoire on emotions for preschool children with autism, and that these skills generalized to new scenarios.
Relational frame theory (RFT) is a contemporary account dealing with language and cognitition from a behavior analytic perspective. RFT has been debated and has created some controversy, especially concurring the empirical evidence for the theory.
The empirical base has been and still is expanding and Simon Dymond, Richard J. May, Anita Munnelly and Alice E. Hoon has taken on the task of examining the evidence base. They have summarized their findings in an article published in The Behavior Analyst (2010). They found that between 1991 and 2008 there was published 62 empirical articles on RFT, mostly with adults and the relational frame of sameness.
For those interested in RFT, this article gives å nice summary of the evidence base, and should be examined for further information.
