Search

Telling and retelling stories and facts are behavioral repertoires that are constantly recruited in social situations, no matter if these situations occur at school, with the family, or at leisure times. This study aimed at systematically evaluating if 11 first graders (age range six to seven), would perform better in retelling tasks when pictorial prompts were presented. Dependent variables were (a) number of story categories inserted in the retelling tasks and (b) number of retold words per story. The independent variable was the presentation of visual prompts during story retelling tasks. Results indicated that visual prompts did not result in consistent increase in performance when the number of story categories inserted was analyzed. Additionally, there was no consistent increase in the number of words retold when pictures were presented. Future studies should investigate whether repeated exposure to stories would result in a significant change in performance.

Pesquisas mostram a importância de se identificar categorias estruturais na formação de um repertório efetivo de contação de histórias. Consequentemente, procedimentos de ensino de identificação destas categorias vêm sendo desenvolvidos. O objetivo do presente manuscrito, o qual consiste em dois estudos, foi investigar os efeitos de um procedimento de ensino de identificação de categorias de histórias em 12 crianças (seis em cada estudo), com idades entre oito e 12 anos. Foi empregado um delineamento de sondas múltiplas, caracterizado pela avaliação do desempenho de cada participante antes e após o ensino de cada categoria. O ensino foi dividido em duas etapas, descrição e identificação de cada categoria, nas quais foram apresentadas instruções orais e escritas, assim como diferentes histórias. Em ambos os estudos, o procedimento resultou na aprendizagem de todas as categorias pelos participantes. Os estudos contribuem com a literatura acerca do ensino da discriminação de categorias estruturais de histórias.

The aim of the present work - which was divided into two studies - was to investigate if, from teaching selection tasks, naming responses would be emitted without direct teaching. Nine children aged between 7 and 12 participated in the study. In each study, 12 abstract pictures and 12 pseudo words were utilized. The procedures were comprised of six sessions that encompassed selection tasks (name-picture relations) and naming tests (picture-name relations). When a participant met 100% correct responses in selection tasks, (s)he was exposed to a naming test. The difference among the studies was the presentation of an echoic behavior pre-test of the pseudo words. The results indicated variability in the participants' naming performance.O presente trabalho, dividido em dois estudos, teve como objetivo verificar se a partir de tarefas de seleção, respostas de nomeação seriam emitidas sem ensino direto. Participaram ao todo nove crianças com idades entre 7 e 12 anos. Em cada estudo foram utilizadas 12 figuras abstratas e 12 pseudopalavras. Os procedimentos continham seis sessões compostas de tarefas de seleção (relações nome-figura) e de testes de nomeação (relações figura-nome). Alcançado desempenho de 100% de acerto nas tarefas de seleção, o participante era exposto ao teste de nomeação. A diferença entre os estudos foi a apresentação de um préteste de comportamento ecóico das pseudopalavras. Os resultados indicaram variabilidade no desempenho de nomeação dos participantes.

Abstract Behavior Analysis is usually accused of not being able to account for the generalization of verbal behavior that is present in linguistically competent individuals. However, several behavior analytic studies investigate this theme, and gamification has been seen as a useful way to study generalization. The purpose of this study was to evaluate reading and writing generalization in games, after these behaviors were taught through the program Learning to Read in Small Steps. Participants were four children between 7 and 12 years old who had reading and writing deficits. The experimental design was a pre-posttest design that encompassed five phases. Performance in probes suggests generalization of reading and writing skills to new activities (games) and responses. This study represents a small step in a systematic understanding of how games can be used to assess behavior change.