Behavior modification with an echolalic child: a case note.

Abstract

The purpose of the present case note is to report a modification in the Risley and Wolf (1967) technique of replacing echolalia with appropriate language. S was a 6-yr.old boy enrolled in a preschool class for the mentally retarded. He displayed much autistic behavior and his language funcuon was quite similar to that of Ss described by Risley and Wolf (1967) and Trarnontana and Stimbert (1970). In addition to the similarity in language, the present S, as was the S in the Tramontana and Stimbert (1970) study, was a precocious reader with respect to word recognition although his deviant behavior precluded assessment of reading comprehension and general intelligence. The similarities in language and reading ability of Ss mentioned led the present authors to conclude that there may be many other children for whom the techniques to be presented would be effective. The modified procedure was deemed necessary when it became evident that S's behavior was not modifiable in a positive direction by means of the Risley and Wolf (1967) techniques. This S mimicked stimuli so rapidly that the verbal stimulus (question) 4 response prompt (answer) + S's mimicking of prompt + reinforcement + and repeating of stimulus with fading of procedure was ineffective. That is, he responded so quickly that before E could give the response prompt, S had already begun mimicking the question. However, incorporation of S's reading skills into the program was found to be a means of alleviating this problem. For example, S was asked his name and, while E was completing the question and just before S had begun to mimic the question, E presenred the answer printed in large block letters on a 2-in. by 10-in. flash card. S was now presented the question verbally, the answer was presented visually, S read the answer and was reinforced with M & M candies. The visual stimulus seemed to maintain S's attention so that he no longer attended too long or mimicked the question. This procedure wa begun during the seventh of 25 twice-weekly, one-hour training sessions. Before initiat~on of the visually presenred prompts, little progress had been made. However, dramatic improvement occurred during the next eight sessions during which these prompts were used. The visual prompts were then faded out with no noticeable decrease in the program's effectiveness. At the time of the present report, S was responding in sentences and making rather fine discriminations (e.g., E, What do you do with a glass of milk? S, 1 drink it.; E, What do you do with a bottle of milk? S, I put it in the refrigerator.). In addition, there has been a great increase in appropriate spontaneous verbalizations by S both in his preschool classroom and at home.