Summary Of Discrete Trial Training

In a study conducted by Radley, K. C., Dart, E. H., Furlow, C. M., & Ness, E. J; it was estimated that roughly 1 in 67 children have been diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum (2015). There are many different techniques used to help increase language acquisition and increase social capabilities. In the present paper, the effects of different training techniques used to teach discrete trial training is investigated. It is known that discrete trial training is an efficient and effective way to teach children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and others with developmental delays (Sarokoff, Sturmey, 2004). It is suggested that one of the biggest challenges that discrete trial training faces is the efficient training of teachers or

Most children with ASD have no verbal language at all (Lang, Rispoli, Sigafoos, Lancioni, Andrews, Ortega, 2010). Discrete Trial Training (DTT) is a teaching technique utilized by applied behavior analysis to increase learning and social behaviors in those diagnosed with ASD. The training is split into three different sections; these are instruction, response, and consequence. The instruction can be a variety of categories; this can range from learning commands to learning to differentiate letters (Eldevik, et al., 2013). The response is how or what the child answers or does not answer in the presence of a specific stimulus. There are two different consequences that can be used; one is if the child responds with the target behavior/ response this consequence is reinforcement. The reinforcement is often decided based on a preference list for the specific child. If the child does not respond with the target response the consequence they receive is a prompt. A prompt is used as a type of error correction to help increase the target behavior. DTT is important to behavior analysis because it has proved to increase target behavior as well as decrease unwanted behavior in children with ASD. The difficulty lies with the fact that there are not enough individuals who are properly trained in

According to a 2005 study conducted by the Individuals with disabilities act 5.84% of all 3–5-year-olds utilized some form of public preschool help (Sarokoff, et al. 2004). So teaching those in the public school system would only make sense. The teaching of DTT in classrooms was exemplified in the research article by Radley et al. In this study they focused on the benefits of peer-mediated discrete trial training. There were two elementary-aged participants, both of which were clinically diagnosed as having ASD and had documented problem behavior, and six of their peers. These peers were typically developing children in the same school as the two participants. The individuals partaking in the study had limited communication skills. The peers were then trained to conduct DTT by trained researchers. Both of the participants were given target responses and the peers implemented the DTT under the supervision of psychologists. When the students were conducting DTT they were being evaluated by the researcher. The researchers used an integrity checklist to calculate the percentage of steps correctly followed by the peer (Radley et al., 2015). The integrity checklist is a list of specific steps that the person conducting the trials has to follow to accurately use discrete trial training. They also used Interobserver Agreement (IOA) to