Abstract
This paper describes an apparatus and a procedure which have been developed to facilitate recordings in child observation studies. The apparatus consists of a panel of 12 button-switches connected to an Esterline-Angus pen recorder. An additional piece of apparatus was developed for training observers and for insuring interobserver agreement. Various behaviors of the child and the attending adult were defined. Each behavior corresponded with a designated button on the panel (or pen on the recorder). The apparatus kept a running account of both frequency and duration of each of these behaviors. The procedure can be used for analysis of interrelated behaviors of the child, as well as for studying covarying relationships between the child's behaviors and those of the attending adult. A series of studies was performed on (1) reliability of the observations, (2) assessing the effect of experimentally controlled varibles on various behaviors, (3) quantifications of behavior changes over time, (4) analyzing temporal relationships between various behaviors from the child, and (5) comparing the behaviors of normal and autistic children.
Published Version
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