Skip to Main Content
Excellence Event Undergraduate Sample Proposal
Title
Improving Accepting and Giving Compliments with Individuals with Disabilities
Authors
STUDENT ONE (All caps indicates the presenting author)
Master of Science in Behavior Analysis
Second-year master student
Advisor. Faculty One
Student Two
Master of Science in Behavior Analysis
First-year master student
Advisor. Faculty Two
Student Three
Advisor. Faculty Three
Senior Undergraduate
Psychology
Presentation Type
This will be a 15-minute oral presentation. 5 minutes will be provided or questions and answers.
Abstract
Individuals with developments disabilities such as Autism Spectrum Disorders may have conversation skill deficits, especially in the area of accepting and giving compliments. We used an individualized approach to assess and treat conversation skill deficits with three adolescents with developmental disabilities. We taught conversation skills in the form of accepting and giving compliments using Behavioral Skills Training (BST; Poche, Brouwer, & Swearingen, 1981) and within-session prompting. We used a multiple baseline design across participants to demonstrate experimental control over the teaching. An increase in saying, “Thank you,” and smiling to compliments provided by the adult, as well as compliments were given, was observed with the trainer and maintained. Generalization and treatment extension were also observed in conversations with adults not associated with teaching.
