Author: Rabia Mahmood
Supervisor: Dr. Naumana Amjad
Degree: Msc
Year: (2010-2012)
University: Institute of Applied Psychology, Punjab University, Lahore, Pakistan
Abstract
The effectiveness of interventions being employed in various special education institutes was investigated in the research. A sample of 12 autistic children was selected from two special education institutes in Lahore i.e. The Child Guidance School and Center for Clinical Psychology. The research consisted of two studies. The first study involved in depth semi-structured interviews from the teachers of the participants. These interviews intended on unraveling the major behavior problems of each child and how their educators managed these behaviors. The results analyzed using content analysis revealed the most common behavior problems in the sample to be ritualistic behavior, throwing tantrums, lighting with other kids, hyperactivity, self injurious behavior, non compliance, verbal repetitions and shyness. The most frequently used techniques to control these problematic behavior used by teachers were reinforcement, shaping, modeling, timeout, verbal reprimand, distraction by using secondary reinforces, praise other kids, verbal negation, excessive repetition of hyperactive acts, redirect to activity and ignoring. The second study comprised of analysis of archival data. The records of the participants in the sample were explored systematically. For the participants from The Child Guidance School results of teacher’s rating scale were compared for three different times i.e. Baseline year 2010 and year 20l2. CABS results of the years 2010 and 2012 were compared for the sample from Center for Clinical Psychology. The results of comparison revealed a decrease in the behavioral problems of the participant’s overtime. Thus it was concluded that techniques being used by teachers for autistic children in special schools are effective as they decrease the problematic behavior observed in these children.
Keywords: autism, behavioral problems, reinforcement, intervention.
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Corresponding Address: Department of Applied Psychology, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan. Email: chairperson@appsy.pu.edu.pk, Phone: 92-42-9231245
