Williams, G., Pérez-González, L. A., & Vogt, K. (2003).
The role of specific consequences in the maintenance of three types of questions.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis,
36, 285-296.
This research replicated and extended a study by Williams,
Donley, and Keller (2000). In that study, children with autism
received a box with an object inside and learned to ask
"What's that?," "Can I see it?," and "Can I
have it?" to have the name of the object, to see the object,
and to get the object, respectively. The purpose of the present
research was to determine if the three questions (a) were three
independent repertoires of behavior, (b) constituted three
instances of a single functional response class, or (c) belonged
to a chain of behavior. The 3 boys with autism who participated
responded independently to each question when the consequences
for each question were altered. This indicates that the three
target responses were three independent repertoires of behavior,
each one reinforced and maintained with its specific
consequences. Thus, this procedure serves to teach children with
autism to ask questions with flexibility according to a variable
context.
DESCRIPTORS: _question asking, verbalizations, autism, language
acquisition, verbal behavior, establishing operations, perez, gonzalez