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Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often lack symbolic play skills. Attribution of pretend properties (APP) is a type of symbolic play in which a child tacts pretend properties of an object (e.g., smelling a toy flower and saying, "It smells like a rose!"). Three Chinese boys (5-6 years of age) with ASD served as participants. A multiple-probe design across 5 objects was used to determine the effects of an intervention that involved having the child experience and tact sensory properties of real objects (e.g., rose). Corresponding test objects, including mock (e.g., a toy flower) and arbitrary objects (e.g., a stick), were used to evaluate whether tact responses for sensory properties were transferred. Results indicated that all 3 children emitted tacts of stimulus properties for test objects and maintained the skill for 7 to 10 weeks following the intervention. Two participants also tacted novel (nontarget) properties for test objects.

Whether a child with autism spectrum disorder will exhibit observational learning may depend on their attention to and the stimulus modalities of the observed contingency. We used multiple-probe and repeated-acquisition designs to test observational learning across a diverse set of contingencies, which included hidden edible, hidden toy, hidden video, tact, receptive identification, and intraverbal contingencies. During preteaching, 2 children with autism spectrum disorder showed observational learning with some contingencies. After learning to engage in differential observing responses for observed behaviors and consequences with the hidden-video contingency, 1 child showed generalization of observational learning with receptive identification and intraverbals. Neither child showed generalization with the tact contingency. Thus, teaching was initiated with the tact contingency, which led to generalization of observational learning with tacts. The efficacy of teaching differential observing responses over observational learning was demonstrated. Inconsistent observational learning across contingencies suggests scientist-practitioners should assess observational learning across a variety of contingencies.

Q (1) Can children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) learn to tact sensations (e.g. feels prickly, rough, and soft) across various body parts?(2) Will the newly acquired tacts generalize to untra...

The Covid-19 pandemic has put policy systems to the test. In this paper, we unmask the institutionalized resilience of the Dutch health care system to pandemic crisis. Building on logics of crisis decision-making and on the notion of ‘tact’, we reveal how the Dutch government initially succeeded in orchestrating collective action through aligning public health purposes and installing socio-economic policies to soften societal impact. However, when the crisis evolved into a more enduring one, a more contested policy arena emerged in which decision-makers had a hard time composing and defending a united decision-making strategy. Measures have become increasingly debated on all policy levels as well as among experts, and conflicts are widely covered in the Dutch media. With the 2021 elections ahead, this means an additional test of the resilience of the Dutch socio-political and health care systems.

Malaria remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality in Africa, particularly in children under five years of age. Availability of effective anti-malarial drug treatment is a cornerstone for malaria control and eventual malaria elimination. Artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) is worldwide the first-line treatment for uncomplicated falciparum malaria, but the ACT drugs are starting to fail in Southeast Asia because of drug resistance. Resistance to artemisinins and their partner drugs could spread from Southeast Asia to Africa or emerge locally, jeopardizing the progress made in malaria control with the increasing deployment of ACT in Africa. The development of triple artemisinin-based combination therapy (TACT) could contribute to mitigating the risks of artemisinin and partner drug resistance on the African continent. However, there are pertinent ethical and practical issues that ought to be taken into consideration. In this paper, the most important ethical tensions, some implementation practicalities and preliminary thoughts on addressing them are discussed. The discussion draws upon data from randomized clinical studies using TACT combined with ethical principles, published literature and lessons learned from the introduction of artemisinin-based combinations in African markets.

Recent gains in the fight against malaria are threatened by the emergence and spread of artemisinin and partner drug resistance in Plasmodium falciparum in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS). When artemisinins are combined with a single partner drug, all recommended artemisinin-based combination therapies have shown reduced efficacy in some countries in the GMS at some point. Novel drugs are not available for the near future. Triple artemisinin-based combination therapies, combining artemisinins with two currently available partner drugs, will provide one of the last remaining safe and effective treatments for falciparum malaria that can be deployed rapidly in the GMS, whereas their deployment beyond the GMS could delay or prevent the global emergence and spread of resistance to currently available drugs.

Indivíduos com TEA (Transtorno do Espectro do Autismo) podem apresentar dificuldades de comunicação, tais como déficits na emissão de intraverbais durante interação social. Ao longo dos anos, pesquisadores vêm testando diversos procedimentos para o ensino desta habilidade (Kodak, Fuchtman e Paden (2012); McMorrow, Foxx, Faw, e Bittle (1987); Cihon, White, Zimmerman, Gesick, Stordahl & Eshleman (2017)). Este trabalho objetivou avaliar se o ensino de tatos tematicamente relacionados a níveis fluentes poderia resultar na emergência de intraverbais. Utilizou-se delineamento de linha de base múltipla entre categorias, de sujeito único, e foram realizadas cinco etapas de ensino: (1) treino de tato, (2) treino de fluência de tato, (3) sonda de persistência (endurance), (4) sonda de estabilidade (stability) e (5) sonda de retenção (retention). Os resultados indicaram que a habilidade intraverbal emergiu a partir do treino fluente de tatos tematicamente relacionados com uso de Ensino Preciso (Precision Teaching), sem necessidade de treino direto. Estudos futuros podem investigar a emergência com indivíduos que não emitem intraverbais para nenhuma categoria, e também comparar o tempo de aquisição entre o treino direto e o treino de fluência de tato com um mesmo sujeito. O presente estudo apresenta limitações quanto ao contexto no qual foi realizado e participante (setting terapêutico e história de reforçamento de seguir instruções), e quanto à forma de apresentação dos estímulos (sinalização das categorias temporal e visualmente).

We examined emergent tact control following stimulus pairing, using 2 different stimulus presentation arrangements. In the word-first condition, presentation of the auditory stimulus preceded the visual stimulus, and in the image-first condition, the visual stimulus preceded the auditory stimulus. Eight children (2–5 years old) participated. In Experiment 1, 4 children were exposed to 3 sessions in each condition with a new set of stimuli in each session. In Experiment 2, 2 of the same children received repeated exposure to the same stimulus sets. Experiment 3, with new participants, was identical to Experiment 1, except visual and auditory stimuli overlapped during the presentation. Postsession probes documented emergent stimulus control over 1 or more vocal responses for 7 of the 8 participants. Participants were more likely to make echoic responses with the visual stimulus present in the word-first condition; however, emergent tact control was unaffected by the order of the stimulus presentation. Additional research is needed on stimulus-pairing procedures and on the role of echoic responding in emergent tact control.

A common practice in tact training is to include a supplemental verbal stimulus (e.g., “What is it?”) in addition to the presentation of a nonverbal discriminative stimulus. Previous literature has suggested that this supplemental verbal stimulus can impede acquisition and generalization relative to the presentation of the object alone, as it may establish faulty stimulus control or decrease spontaneous tacting. Research has yet to compare these 2 training methods on the generalization of learned tacts to more naturalistic, play-based environments. The present study evaluated the use of “What is it?” compared to the presentation of only the nonverbal discriminative stimulus on tact acquisition among 3 children with autism spectrum disorder and the extent to which these training procedures led to tacting in a play-based setting following discrete-trial training. Overall, participants learned to tact stimuli under both conditions, and all participants demonstrated generalization of tacts in a play-based setting. Recommendations for the development and evaluation of naturalistic posttraining assessment are discussed.

Pairing discriminative stimuli with unique reinforcers provides an additional cue to correct responding. In the current study, we evaluated the effectiveness of the differential outcomes procedure in teaching novel tacts and facilitating transfer of tacts to novel discriminative stimuli. Four children diagnosed with developmental or intellectual disability were taught a unique pair of related tacts both under a differential outcomes condition and under a nondifferential outcomes condition where the reinforcers were uncorrelated with the sample stimuli. In the former, the different outcomes were two forms of the same reinforcer. Three out of four participants met the mastery criterion sooner under the differential outcomes condition. Two participants also generalized to novel stimuli under the differential outcomes condition. When we tested for the inclusion of the reinforcers in the stimulus class, three participants demonstrated the acquisition of emergent stimulus–outcomes and response–outcomes relations. The study provides support for the use of the differential outcomes procedure as a cost-effective means of enhancing the acquisition of discriminated responses in an applied setting.

Armed Forces doctors are often required to treat children affected in war, combat, and disasters. Tender care & comprehensive tact is needed for children. Acquisition of these qualities comes with knowledge, its application, and practicing skills. Throughout history, children have been victims of armed conflict. War-related injuries are more severe as compared to the civilian sector injuries. Penetrating injuries are associated with significant damage to local structures, whereas blast injuries are associated with less local injury and more multisystem trauma. Children are not small adults. The differences have important practice implications. Identifying and correcting physiological compromise improves outcomes. The examination and vital sign data can be interpreted only if the caregiver has a thorough understanding of normal values. Identification & treatment of what is killing the patient is done in primary survey. Secondary survey, extremity trauma, fracture biomechanics, & burns peculiarities need attention. Care of the injured patient is a dynamic process. Frequent monitoring required for proper response. Small infants have a narrow margin for error. Combat trauma provides multiple opportunities for improvement. Continuation of research will ensure ongoing progress and further improvement in the outcomes of both military and civilian casualties.

Responding accurately to questions is a fundamental skill, currently under researched in the applied field. The present paper reports the results of a multiple-baseline design across stimulus sets ...

Researchers have evaluated a variety of methods for assessing preference for social interactions, and generally have found that such assessments accurately identify differentially reinforcing, preferred interactions. However, few researchers have compared methods for assessing preference for social interactions, and none have done so with participants across different skill levels. The current study compared the stability and validity of hierarchies produced by social interaction preference assessments (SIPA) and picture-based multiple stimulus without replacement preference assessments (MSWO) with 8 individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The MSWO most often produced valid hierarchies for participants who could match, identify, and tact pictures of social interactions and that the SIPA most often produced valid hierarchies for participants who could not identify or tact pictures of social interactions. A vocal paired-stimulus preference assessment (PSPA) was also conducted with a subset of participants who communicated vocally, and it produced valid hierarchies. Considerations and recommendations for selecting a method of assessing preference for social interactions are discussed.

Errorless learning and error correction procedures are commonly used when teaching tact relations to individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Research has demonstrated the effectiveness of both procedures, as well as compared them. The majority of these studies have been completed through the use of single-subject experimental designs. Evaluating both procedures using a group design may contribute to the literature and help disseminate research related to the behavioral science of language to a larger audience. The purpose of the present study was to compare an errorless learning procedure to an error correction procedure to teach tact relations to 28 individuals diagnosed with ASD through a randomized clinical trial. Several variables were assessed, including the number of stimulus sets with which participants reached the mastery criterion, responding during pre- and postprobes, responding during teaching, efficiency, and the presence of aberrant behavior. The results indicated that both procedures were effective, efficient, and unlikely to evoke aberrant behavior, despite participants in the error correction condition engaging in significantly more independent correct responses and independent incorrect responses.

Researchers have identified protocols to induce verbal behavior cusps and capabilities that put an individual’s repertoires in contact with new contingencies and allows the individual to learn in new ways; however, little is known about the relationship between different intensities (i.e., doses) of the protocols and inducing important repertoires. The Intensive Tact Instruction (ITI) has been found to reliably induce Bidirectional Naming (BiN), a capability whereby an individual is able to function simultaneously as a speaker and a listener, to acquire language incidentally after exposure to word–object relations in the environment. We matched eight participants into four dyads and participants in dyads experienced different intensities of the ITI protocol. The full intensity protocol included 100 additional tact learning opportunities each day and the accelerated intensity included 50 daily learning opportunities. We found varied results dependent on a participant’s degree of BiN at the onset of the intervention. Participants with Unidirectional Naming (UniN) acquired BiN under both intensities, but participants in the accelerated condition did so with fewer learning opportunities, suggesting the efficiency of the accelerated protocol. Students that demonstrated No-incidental Naming (NiN) demonstrated mixed results from the intervention, regardless of intervention intensity. The outcomes are discussed in terms of efficiency and cost effectiveness.

The aim of the article is to discuss the aspects of linguistic aesthetics in public discourse,especially those that are desired by language users who are observe ongoingdebates. Lack of sensitivity to the word, linguistic intuition and tact in language result ina decrease in the level of language culture in interpersonal relations. People who discussthe quality of language are disgusted by pauperization of language canons, violationof linguistic norms and the aesthetic order of thought, as well as brutality and vulgarity in speaking about those fragments of reality that are the subject of public disputes. Whilediscussing the issue of skipping the beauty of language in public discussions, I refer tothe method of axiolinguistic analysis. I refer to the principles of ethics of interpersonalcommunication, linguistic sensitivity and decency in language. I also present the influenceof language aggression on the disappearance of linguistic aesthetics and the ethicsin the public discourse. Public disputes revealed an important element of media culture.They showed that for the language users, the sense of aesthetics, the culture of the wordand the beauty of the language are not without significance.

We evaluated the efficacy of a most-to-least intrusive error-correction/prompting procedure for teaching 3 children with autism to tact the private events of others through publicly accompanying stimuli. Participants did not reliably demonstrate correct tact responses to publicly observable stimuli that accompany common emotions reported by others (e.g., bandage = hurt) in baseline. Procedures were taken from the Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge Relational Training System: Direct Training Module (PEAK-DT) to aid in clinical replication, and training was introduced in a multiple-baseline design. Results showed that the procedures were efficacious in teaching this skill to each of the participants, and fast rates of acquisition were observed.

This issue of Journal of Clinical Psychology: In Session focuses on the nature and consequences of psychotherapy clients' disclosures, secrets, and dishonesty, with a particular emphasis on the ways in which therapists can best facilitate greater and more honest disclosure. This introduction to this issue reviews the growing theoretical and empirical literature on the frequency, types, motives, and consequences of client and therapist dishonesty (broadly defined); it also reviews the contributions within this issue, noting the welcome focus of the majority of these papers on the nature of client dishonesty in specific disorders (e.g., eating disorders; substance abuse) and/or specific clinical settings (e.g., prisons). Taken together, these papers speak to the ways that therapists may tailor their clinical interventions to match the specific ways that dishonesty manifests in different clinical populations.

Shillingsburg, Frampton, Cleveland, and Cariveau (2018) taught listener and tact by feature, name-feature intraverbal, and feature-name intraverbal responses across sets and reported emergence of responses that were not directly trained for 6 individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The current study was a systematic replication with the addition of instructive feedback (IF) with 2 children diagnosed with ASD. During trials for previously mastered listener by name responses (e.g., "Point to Tennessee" and child selects a picture of Tennessee), the experimenters provided related IF (e.g., "The capital of this state is Nashville"). After 3 sessions, we evaluated the effects of IF on related verbal responses (e.g., listener by feature, tact by feature, name-feature intraverbal, and feature-name intraverbal) across sets probes. We observed increased correct responses for related verbal responses; replicating Shillingsburg et al. Results suggest that the inclusion of IF may increase the efficiency of verbal behavior programming.

The current study combined equivalence-based instruction and instructive feedback (IF) with two groups of children with autism spectrum disorder. For group 1, three sets of three targets were tested, and for group 2, two sets of three targets were tested. For each target stimulus, the following verbal operants were evaluated: (1) tact name, (2) tact feature, (3) name-feature intraverbal, and (4) feature-name intraverbal. Following individual across set probes (ASP) sessions evaluating all targets in all sets, group treatment was conducted with set 1. During group treatment, tact training was provided to each participant relating to his/her assigned target and IF relating to a feature of the target was provided. Once daily probe data indicated all targets were mastered by the assigned participant, ASP were repeated. This process was repeated across all evaluated sets in the form of a multiple probe design. Results indicated robust responding for three participants, with evidence of responding to observational targets, secondary targets (related to the IF), and emergence of intraverbal responses. A fourth participant showed moderate levels of correct responding, particularly with observational targets. Overall, results suggest that group IF and stimulus equivalence are viable interventions for some children with ASD.

We examined the effects of baseline training sequence on the emergence of conditional discriminations in an intraverbal naming task. Thirty-two college students were randomly assigned to two groups. The tact-intraverbal (TI) group first learned to vocally tact eight visual stimuli using a unique verbal label for each stimulus, and then to intraverbally relate four pairs of verbal labels. The intraverbal-tact (IT) group received the same training but in the opposite sequence. Both groups then received a match-to-sample test involving the visual stimuli alone. On average, the TI group had significantly shorter reaction times than the IT group throughout all four test blocks, even when controlling for intraverbal retention, which was lower in the IT group. Accuracy on the MTS test did not differ significantly between groups when controlling for intraverbal retention. However, MTS accuracy and intraverbal retention were strongly correlated in the IT group but uncorrelated in the TI group. We suggest the effect of training sequence reflects different sources of stimulus control available to subjects in different groups when confronted with the novel MTS trials.

Children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) typically exhibit a range of social communication deficits. Presequenced stimulus arrangements, such as matrix training, can be used to facilitate generative responding. Accordingly, training procedures can lead to the acquisition of a greater number of targets that are not taught explicitly, with fewer learning trials. Matrix training provides a useful framework for selecting teaching targets to promote the emergence of untaught skills. Participants were 3 young boys diagnosed with ASD, who were taught noun-verb combinations of play actions as tact and listener responses. All participants learned the taught noun-verb targets and showed varying degrees of recombinative generalization to untaught targets. Across subsequent matrices, the rate of acquisition of new targets and the number acquired without direct teaching increased (i.e., recombinative generalization). This suggests matrix training stimulus arrangements can facilitate the acquisition of novel targets by teaching young children with ASD to recombine language components appropriately.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have difficulty generalizing from directly trained responses to untrained responses (i.e., emergent responding). In this study, we used a chain prompt combined with matrix training to teach 2 participants with ASD to tact 192 three-digit numerals. We used a multiple-baseline design across matrices to evaluate the treatment effects on trained and untrained tacts of numerals. Both participants mastered all numerals exposed to training and all numerals not exposed to training after 3 to 5 sixteen-trial sessions per matrix. One participant learned to tact 8 numerals for each 1 numeral exposed to direct training, and the other participant learned to tact 12 numerals for each 1 numeral exposed to direct training. We discuss these results relative to the effectiveness and efficiency of our chain prompt combined with matrix training for teaching tacting skills for targets with shared stimulus properties that facilitate generalization to untrained targets.

Endothelial dysfunction, oxidative stress, and increased inflammatory activity are the main pathophysiological mechanisms responsible for cardiac remodeling secondary to hypertension. Bilirubin has anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-fibrotic functions. This report's objectives are to determine whether Query identifiers of left atrial (LA) remodeling, total atrial conduction time (TACT) and LA reservoir strain (LARS), are associated with serum total bilirubin levels, and to identify the possible predictors of LA remodeling in newly diagnosed hypertensive subjects. One hundred thirty-four subjects were enrolled in this study. TACT was evaluated by tissue Doppler imaging, and LARS was calculated by speckle-tracking echocardiography. Laboratory parameters were recorded. The subjects were classified into two separate groups according to the median value of TACT and LARS. In patients with supramedian TACT, LA volume index (LAVI) and epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) thickness were higher, while LARS and LVGLS were lower. In subjects with inframedian LARS, TACT was longer, LAVI and EAT thickness were higher, and LVGLS was lower. Patients with supramedian TACT and inframedian LARS were older and had lower total bilirubin. Total bilirubin, EAT thickness, and age were predictors of TACT and LARS. Serum bilirubin levels may have a protective effect on the LA remodeling process in newly diagnosed hypertensive subjects.

Teaching tact and intraverbal responses based on function-feature-class to children with language delays can result in the emergence of untrained relational responses. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of compound stimuli in discriminated operants (i.e., different combinations of hear, see, touch, and taste) on the acquisition of object-attribute relations, on the emergence of untrained attribute-object relations, and on the acquisition and emergence of same-different relations between objects and their attributes. All the participants were on the autism spectrum and between 4 and 12 years old. Participants who did not meet the mastery criterion or show emergent intraverbal responses during initial training trials completed a fluency-based practice phase. Overall results showed that all six participants required fewer trials to meet the criterion in the condition involving compound stimuli (e.g., HearSeeSay plus Touch, Taste, or Sniff) as compared to the HearSeeSay-alone condition. In addition, participants required fewer fluency practice timings in the condition involving compound stimuli to meet fluency aim.

World Health Organization declared an epidemic on March 11, 2020 known as COVID-19. In the world, there are deceptive distinctions in prevalence and impermanence of COVID-19 cases in different areas. The COVID-19 first case in India was found on January 30, 2020. Presently, no remedy is available for COVID-19 treatment. The organs or the cells having ACE-2 expression are at higher risk of COVID-19, and in this manner, lymphocytes, which make a larger portion of the immune system, are the primary target of COVID-19 virus. Without authentic vaccines or treatment, there is a crucial need for the tactics of treatment and prevention for COVID-19 virus. Developing such tactics involves full understanding of how the virus is spreading in all over the world. Various treatment and prevention methods have been started worldwide such as BCG vaccination, plasma therapy, antiviral drugs, and immunoboosters to decrease the high death rate caused because of COVID-19 pandemic. Our motive is to compare various models (BHRP transmission model, SIR model, and SEIR model) and then put on different control factors to understand the results of recovery from COVID-19 virus.

A number of variables may influence the effectiveness and efficiency of skill acquisition. One variable that may be important is set size. The current study replicated and extended Kodak et al. (2020, “A Comparison of Stimulus Set Size on Tact Training for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder,” Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 53(1), 265–283) by evaluating the stimulus set size that led to the most efficient skill acquisition for 2 adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. More specifically, we evaluated tact acquisition in stimulus set sizes of 3, 6, and 12. The set sizes of 3 and 6 stimuli were associated with the most efficient acquisition, whereas the set size of 12 stimuli was not.

The personal statement is a required component of the residency application, offering applicants the opportunity to showcase their personality as well as unique thoughts and experiences not explicitly stated elsewhere in their application. Although the applicant-generated nature of personal statements can gauge an applicant's professionalism, creativity, sound judgement, and tact, specific criteria for evaluating personal statements and comparing them to one another is lacking. Research on the value of personal statements in the application process is also lacking. The purpose of this research project is to quantify the perceived value of the personal statement to program directors and faculty members of U.S. dermatology programs involved in residency application review. Analysis of our survey responses determined that although the majority of participants consider the personal statement to be a necessary element of an application, it was rated least important compared to other components of the application. An applicant's Medical Student Performance Evaluation, clerkship grades, research projects and publications, board scores, and letters of recommendation were consistently rated as more important than the personal statement. These findings suggest the personal statement lacks the standardization needed for decision makers to confidently choose the best new dermatology residents for their program.

An important communication skill for children with autism is answering multiple questions about visual stimuli (e.g., "What is it?" "What color is it?"). We targeted answering "What number?" and "What shape?" in the presence of numbers inside shapes, and "What is it?" and "What color?" in the presence of colored objects (e.g., a yellow cat) with 3 preschoolers with autism. In addition to a progressive time delay, we required the participants to answer the questions by echoing a keyword from the questions. For example, we taught them to answer, "What color?" with "color blue." In the context of a multiple-probe design across behaviors within a multiple-probe design across participants, the procedure was effective in increasing trained responses and producing within- and across-category generalization. The echoic may have facilitated the responses by increasing the salience of the auditory stimuli and strengthening intraverbals within autoclitic frames.

The present study aimed to replicate the findings of Dounavi (Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 47(1), 165–170 2014) by evaluating the effects of foreign tact and bidirectional intraverbal training on emergent verbal relations. Training involved teaching three English-speaking adults to tact visual stimuli according to their foreign (French) referents, and to vocally emit the reverse relation following the presentation of written words in native-to-foreign (English-to-French) and foreign-to-native (French-to-English) intraverbal relations. A modified multiple probe design using pre- and posttraining probes was used to assess the efficacy of each training method in teaching a small foreign language vocabulary and to probe for emergent relations following training. The findings showed that foreign tact and native-to-foreign intraverbal training was more efficient and resulted in greater emergent responding than training in the foreign-to-native relation. Follow-up probes were conducted 4 weeks after the posttraining probes to evaluate the levels of responding for each of the trained and emergent relations. Results from maintenance probes were varied across the trained and emergent relations; it is interesting that the levels of responding in the emergent relations was greater.

The aim of this paper is to socialize the schooling of a deafblind student in a school in Macapá, Amapá. We will present aspects of the teaching learning process, didactic resources, methodology, advances and difficulties. The student is a 10 years-old female, reported with deep deafness and blindness. She is studying at the 3rd year of Elementary I for the second time. The regular classroom teacher has a higher education level and has already been mentored by the Multifunctional Resource Room (MRR) teacher. However, this teacher says she has no other professionals to accompany students with difficulties, so the student does not attended classes. At MRR, the student was assiduous and communicated with the teacher through reference objects and tactile pounds. She played games and activities using tact and overlapping hands, and recognized the surroundings when conducted freely by the teacher. This teacher has college and postgraduate degrees and is pursuing a master's degree. We emphasize the importance of trained professionals to the deafblind person from an early age to higher education, because it is necessary to meet their needs, respecting and valuing their time and knowledge. However, there are still noticeable gaps in school to become inclusive, regarding the ability of providing access, permanence and completion of studies. El objetivo de este trabajo es socializar la escolarización de un estudiante con sordoceguera en una escuela en Macapá / AP. Presentaremos aspectos del proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje, recursos didácticos, metodología, avances y dificultades. La estudiante tiene 10 años, con un informe de sordera y ceguera profundas. Ella está en su tercer año de escuela primaria por segunda vez. La maestra de aula común tiene un título universitario y ya ha sido guiada por la maestra de la Sala de Recursos Multifuncionales (SRM), sin embargo, dice que no tiene un profesional que la acompañe, por lo que el estudiante no asistió a clases. En SRM, el estudiante era asiduo y se comunicaba con el maestro a través de objetos de referencia y Libras táctiles. Realizó juegos y actividades usando el tacto y las manos superpuestas, y reconoció los entornos cuando el maestro los condujo libremente. Este tiene un título de educación superior, postgrado y está cursando una maestría. Hacemos hincapié en la importancia de los profesionales capacitados para las personas sordociegas desde una edad temprana hasta la educación superior, ya que es necesario satisfacer sus necesidades, respetando y valorando su tiempo y conocimiento. Sin embargo, las brechas en la escuela para pasar a la inclusión aún son notorias, con el fin de proporcionar acceso, permanencia y finalización de los estúdios. O objetivo deste trabalho é socializar a escolarização de uma aluna com surdocegueira, em uma escola de Macapá/AP. Apresentaremos aspectos do processo ensino-aprendizagem, recursos didáticos, metodologia, avanços e dificuldades. A aluna, do sexo feminino, tem 10 anos, laudo de surdez profunda e cegueira. Está pela segunda vez no 3º ano do Fundamental I. A professora de sala de aula comum tem nível superior e já foi orientada pela professora da Sala de Recursos Multifuncionais (SRM), contudo diz não ter profissional para acompanhá-la, logo a aluna não frequentava as aulas. Na SRM, a aluna era assídua e se comunicava com a professora por meio de objetos de referência e da Libras tátil. Realizava jogos e atividades usando o tato e as mãos sobrepostas, e reconhecia os ambientes quando conduzida livremente pela professora. Esta tem nível superior, pós-graduações e está cursando mestrado. Ressaltamos a importância de profissionais capacitados à pessoa surdocega desde a tenra idade ao nível superior, pois se faz necessário atender suas necessidades, respeitando e valorizando seu tempo e seus conhecimentos. Contudo, ainda são notórias as lacunas na escola para acontecer à inclusão, com vistas a oportunizar acesso, permanência e finalização dos estudos.

Alguns resultados positivos de ensino para crianças com autismo têm sido atribuídos ao efeito do reforçamento das respostas corretas treinadas, assim como aos efeitos das consequências que se dão às respostas incorretas, como a correção de erro. Alguns estudos de correção de erro tratam do esquema de reforçamento que se pode dar após a resposta corrigida. O objetivo do presente trabalho foi comparar uma condição que fornecia reforçadores de mesma magnitude para respostas corrigidas e independentes com uma segunda condição que fornecia reforçadores de diferentes magnitudes para esses dois tipos de respostas. Foram medidas as taxas de respostas corretas no ensino de tato e discriminação auditivo-visual para três crianças com desenvolvimento atípico. A condição de diferentes magnitudes resultou em menos tentativas de ensino para o repertório de tato para todos os participantes e no ensino de repertório de ouvinte para dois dos três participantes.

The present study evaluated the efficacy of a set of procedures for bringing tact extensions of abstract tactile properties under stimulus control. Two participants with disabilities who communicated via a picture-based communication system received reinforcement for tacts of tactile properties of four wet/dry and four hard/soft stimuli. Test trials were conducted to evaluate the extent to which the participants' correct responding generalized to novel stimuli with the same tactile properties. The results suggest that the procedures were effective in bringing tact extensions of abstract tactile properties under stimulus control. Both participants' correct responding generalized to a set of novel stimuli. Mastery level responding to training and test targets maintained for 2 weeks following training. The results provide further evidence supporting the use of DTT to teach stimulus abstraction to nonvocal verbal individuals who use augmentative forms of communication.

Matrix training consists of preplanning instruction by arranging components of desired skills across a minimum of two axes. In the current study, three matrices were developed for each participant (e.g., Matrix 1, Generalization Matrix 1, and Generalization Matrix 2) with known color and shape components. Following baseline, nonoverlapping (i.e., diagonal) training was conducted with Matrix 1. Results of posttests were used to determine the extent of emergence of untrained color-shape combinations across all matrices. Results from all six participants indicated that mastery criteria were eventually met for Matrix 1. For five participants, mastery criteria were also eventually met for generalization matrices. Results replicate findings from prior studies and offer a simple approach for both testing emergence of untrained skills and remediating responding.

Research on tact acquisition by children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has often focused on teaching participants to tact visual stimuli. It is important to evaluate procedures for teaching tacts of nonvisual stimuli (e.g., olfactory, tactile). The purpose of the current study was to extend the literature on secondary target instruction and tact training by evaluating the effects of a discrete-trial instruction procedure involving (a) echoic prompts, a constant prompt delay, and error correction for primary targets; (b) inclusion of secondary target stimuli in the consequent portion of learning trials; and (c) multiple exemplar training on the acquisition of item tacts of olfactory stimuli, emergence of category tacts of olfactory stimuli, generalization of category tacts, and emergence of category matching, with three children diagnosed with ASD. Results showed that all participants learned the item and category tacts following teaching, participants demonstrated generalization across category tacts, and category matching emerged for all participants.

Strategies to promote the emergence of untrained verbal relations are of critical importance for learners with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The current study examined the effects of systematically training new relations on the emergence of intraverbal relations within the same set and across untrained sets using a multiple probe across behaviors design. Three sets consisting of three classes of stimuli were developed for each of the six participants with ASD. Training was sequentially introduced within set 1 for listener feature/function, tact feature/function, and bi-directional intraverbals. Following mastery of one relation within the set, probes were conducted to assess emergence of all untrained relations within set 1. Once mastery criteria were met through direct training or emergence for all intraverbal relations in set 1, probes were conducted to evaluate relations across all sets (1–3). The procedures were repeated with the remaining sets. Results indicated that some participants showed emergence of untrained intraverbal relations following training of the listener and tact responses, consistent with prior research. Some participants required training across multiple relations and classes before emergence of intraverbals was observed. These results highlight the importance of evaluating performance over multiple sets and the benefits of systematically programming for emergence within clinical work.

Few studies have applied Skinner's (1953) conceptualization of problem solving to teach socially significant behaviors to individuals with developmental disabilities. The current study used a multiple probe design across behavior (sets) to evaluate the effects of problem-solving strategy training (PSST) on the target behavior of explaining how to complete familiar activities. During baseline, none of the three participants with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) could respond to the problems presented to them (i.e., explain how to do the activities). Tact training of the actions in each activity alone was ineffective; however, all participants demonstrated independent explaining-how following PSST. Further, following PSST with Set 1, tact training alone was sufficient for at least one scenario in sets 2 and 3 for all 3 participants. Results have implications for generative responding for individuals with ASD and further the discussion regarding the role of problem solving in complex verbal behavior.

Déficits na atenção conjunta (AC), caracterizada como resposta de atenção conjunta (RAC) e iniciação de atenção conjunta (IAC), têm sido relacionados com os problemas de linguagem observados em pessoas com autismo. O estabelecimento do comportamento de outras pessoas como estímulos discriminativos/reforçadores condicionais pode ser importante para AC. Este estudo investigou, em três crianças com autismo, as relações funcionais que podem ocorrer entre o estabelecimento do comportamento de outras pessoas como estímulos discriminativos/reforçadores condicionais e os repertórios de RAC, IAC, tato e mando. Foram realizados treinos de repertórios de sessão e pré-testes da efetividade reforçadora/discriminativa de estímulos condicionais sociais, de RAC, IAC, mando e tato. Com base nos prétestes, foram definidas diferentes linhas de base entre os participantes para iniciar os treinos dos repertórios inexistentes e poder avaliar os efeitos de um ou mais repertórios sobre os demais. Os resultados sugerem uma independência funcional entre a aquisição de RAC, mando e tato e o estabelecimento de respostas a estímulos sociais.

Skinner propôs um tratamento funcional da linguagem, definindo comportamento verbal como comportamento estabelecido e mantido por consequências mediadas, fornecidas por um ouvinte especialmente treinado por uma comunidade verbal. Também apresentou uma taxonomia desse tipo de comportamento: operantes primários – mando, tato, ecoico, intraverbal, transcrição e textual – e secundário – autoclítico. Existem poucos estudos experimentais sobre autoclíticos, o que pode ser prejudicial para a área, pois esse operante é essencial na compreensão de repertórios verbais complexos. Essa reduzida frequência pode ser fruto da complexidade do tema e da dificuldade em compreendê-lo, dada a forma intrincada e distribuída na qual ele é tratado no Verbal Behavior. Neste artigo, apresenta-se de forma integrada o tratamento oferecido por Skinner ao autoclítico. Essa sistematização pode possibilitar maior compreensão sobre o tema e estimular novas investigações. Nessa direção, aponta-se possíveis usos dessa interpretação para o desenvolvimento de pesquisas e intervenções na Análise Comportamental Aplicada

The article analyzes the results of a complex study on psychological prevention of threat to the health of the subjects in educational space. The main professional threats to the pedagogical employees' health in the educational organizations are analyzed by the parameter of information and communications in the structure of educational organization. It's emphasized that long-lasting discomfort in professional communications determines the exhaustion of organism’s resources and changes of central coordinative mechanisms that lead to the restriction of the organism's adaptive abilities and after becomes the precondition for the development of different illnesses. A number of factors, including signs of communicative discomfort, can be treated as potentially possible threats for pedagogue's occupational health, are identified: criticism, especially unjustified, communicated in rude, humbling or mocking manner; mobbing (infliction of emotional distress at the working-place); negative forms of professional communications (problematic relationships with colleagues, parents, students, barriers in professional communication, unjustified aggression among collective members, internal group favouritism, gossiping etc.); conflicts in professional environment; authoritarianism (lack of tact and temperance, excessive self-confidence, willingness to dominate etc.); intensive everyday stress; “inadequate” management style; envy among the collective members.

"Watchful waiting" (WW) can reduce unnecessary antibiotic use in the treatment of pediatric otitis media (ear infection), but the utility of the strategy is impaired by underutilization and noncompliance. Guided by advice response theory (ART), the current study examines how parental compliance with WW and trust in the prescribing physician is predicted by evaluative and affective responses to the advice. Parents (N = 134) of at least one child aged 5 years or younger completed questionnaires that assessed responses to WW advice they received for their youngest child. Perceptions of the advantage from and capacity to undertake WW, the child's level of pain, and the tact (autonomy-granting politeness) of the health care provider predicted compliance and provider trust both directly and indirectly, through advice quality and negative affect. The study suggests modifications to ART that will extend its scope and provides practical guidance for health care providers seeking to improve parent compliance with WW advice.

The study evaluated the efficacy of observational learning using the rival-model technique in teaching three children with autism to state metaphorical statements about emotions when provided a picture, as well as to intraverbally state an appropriate emotion when provided a scenario and corresponding metaphorical emotion. The results provide a preliminary evaluation of how an observational teaching strategy may be effective in teaching children with autism to correctly tact emotions when given metaphors.

We evaluated the effects of tact training when instruction was presented in English only compared to tact training in a bilingual format (in English and the home language, Portuguese) for a participant diagnosed with a communication disorder. The participant’s parents completed a questionnaire describing his exposure to both languages prior to the start of the study. We also conducted formal language assessments to determine the participant’s preexisting language abilities. An adapted alternating treatment design was used to compare the rate of acquisition in the two training conditions. Results show the participant emitted more correct responses during tact training in English than during the bilingual tact training. Generalization and maintenance of acquired tact responses for stimuli trained in the bilingual condition were greater than for stimuli trained in the English-only condition. These results are discussed with respect to implications for language-training programs for children with language delays and developmental disabilities, and we outline suggestions for future research in this area.

Skinner (1957) described the tact as the most important verbal operant; however, there remains a disproportionate amount of research evaluating mand training compared to tact training for young children with autism. The current study sought to alleviate some of this disparity by evaluating the effectiveness of the iPad® and application Proloquo2Go™ as a speech-generating device, using a multiple baseline design, on the acquisition of a tact repertoire in three preschool aged children with autism. The procedures employed a time delay with full physical prompts, during a “circle time” routine. During the circle time routine, the classroom teacher would read the lift-the-flap children’s book “Where’s Spot?” and pause for five-seconds upon reaching the targeted animal for each respective student. During this time delay if the student independently selected the picture that corresponded to the animal, evoking the SGD’s digitized output, the teacher provided verbal praise. If the child did not respond or responded incorrectly, a full physical prompt was used to evoke the tact of the animal. Results indicated that all three participants acquired the ability to tact at least one animal at 100% independence, across three consecutive sessions, after an average of four training sessions. This skill was also found to maintain for those two participants for whom maintenance data were taken. These results extend the evidence base on the use of the iPad® and application Proloquo2Go™ as a SGD, as well as, the research based on tacting acquisition.

Clinical trials for rare neuromuscular diseases imply, among other investments, a high emotional burden for the whole disease community. Translation of data from preclinical studies to justify any clinical trial must be carefully pondered in order to minimize the risk of clinical trial withdrawal or failure. A rigorous distinction between proof-of-concept and preclinical efficacy studies using animal models is key to support the rationale of a clinical trial involving patients. This Review evaluates the experience accumulated by the TREAT-NMD Advisory Committee for Therapeutics, which provides detailed constructive feedback on clinical proposals for neuromuscular diseases submitted by researchers in both academia and industry, and emphasizes that a timely critical review of preclinical efficacy data from animal models, including biomarkers for specific diseases, combined with adherence to existing guidelines and standard protocols, can significantly help to de-risk clinical programs and prevent disappointments and costly engagement., Summary: Rigorous preclinical efficacy studies de-risk clinical trials in neuromuscular diseases. This Review summarizes the impact of expert panel advice on translational studies.

A large amount of learning occurs through the observation of stimulus-stimulus relations. One procedure that involves this sort of learning is the stimulus-pairing observation procedure (SPOP). The current study involves a systematic replication of Byrne, Rehfeldt, and Aguirre (2014). Tests for the emergence of tact and listener relations were conducted pre- and post-SPOP intervention, which consisted of a therapist presenting auditory-visual stimulus relations to participants. The SPOP intervention resulted in the establishment of tact and listener relations for all participants. The importance of assessing prerequisite skills is considered in the context of previous research.

Bidirectional naming (BiN) is the integration of speaker and listener responses, reinforced by social consequences. Unfortunately, these consequences often do not function as reinforcers for behavior in children with autism. Accordingly, the repertoire of BiN is also often limited in these children. Previous research has suggested that so-called multiple-exemplar instruction, a rotation between different speaker and listener operants, may be necessary to establish BiN. The present experiment aimed to investigate whether sequential operant instruction might also work as a successful intervention to improve BiN skills after the establishment of standard social reinforcers. Standard social reinforcers were identified and established through an operant-discrimination training procedure in 4 participating children with an autism spectrum diagnosis. In the present experiment, all participants showed increased BiN after sequential operant instruction with conditioned social reinforcers contingent on relevant operants. Two of 4 participants acquired BiN skills. Moreover, the remaining 2 participants scored within the mastery criterion on listener responses, and 1 of them also met the criterion on the tact probes. Essential characteristics of an intervention, as well as the role of the echoic in the emission of BiN, are discussed.