Otizm Spektrum Bozukluğu Olan Çocuklara Güvenlik Becerilerinin Öğretiminde Uygun Olan ve Olmayan Davranış Örnekleriyle Öğretimin Etkililiği

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness cool versus not cool on the acquisition of the skills associated with safe handling of chemicals, maintenance, and generalization of these skills by the preschool children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In the study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the teachers of the children with ASD with the subjective evaluation approach, and social validity data were collected from their peers with typical development with a social comparison approach. The ecological validity data were also collected from the teachers with a form developed by the authors. The findings of the study, where the multiple probe across participants model, a single-subject research model, was employed to determine the impact of cool versus not cool on the instruction of safe handling of chemicals to children with ASD, demonstrated that children with ASD acquired the target safety skills, their skills improved after the study, they maintained these skills after four weeks, and generalized these skills to different individuals. The social validity data collected with subjective evaluation and social comparison approaches demonstrated that the teachers of the children with ASD stated positive views on the target skills instructed in the study, the cool versus not cool and the study findings, and children with ASD exhibited better performance when compared to their peers after the instruction. Furthermore, the findings revealed that the ecological validity of the cool versus not cool was high, especially in the natural environment. The findings were discussed based on the literature and certain recommendations are presented for future research and applications.