Derived Relational Responding Applications for Learners with Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities: A Progressive Guide to Change Book

Derived Relational Responding serves as a curriculum guide for practitioners working with learners with autism and other developmental disabilities in a variety of human service and educational settings. The book's primary objectives are to provide a rationale for the necessity of constructing behavioral repertoires based upon derived relational responding, and to provide practitioners with a set of tools for the implementation of educational interventions for the acquisition of verbal, social, and cognitive skills using a derived stimulus relations technology. The book is organized into beginning, intermediate, and advanced curricular areas. Part 1, the Beginning Curriculum Guide, provides practitioners with step-by-step instructions for establishing prerequisite skills for normal language. Pre-academic skills necessary for learning relationally, acquisition of rudimentary verbal operants, and establishment of direct instructional control are emphasized in Part 1. Part 2, the Intermediate Curriculum Guide, shows how a technology based on derived relational responding can be used to enhance receptive and expressive repertoires via the establishment of such skills as reading, spelling, sentence construction, and grammar. Part 3, the Advanced Curriculum Guide, focuses on the application of derived relational responding to higher order cognitive and social abilities, including perspective taking and empathy, mathematical reasoning, and intelligence and creativity. Each chapter: discusses how a particular skill deficit has been taught traditionally with examples from the relevant literature, provides a rationale for why a technology based on derived relational responding may be more effective or desirable in ameliorating the particular skill deficit, discusses studies to date that have used an intervention based on derived relational responding, and provides a comprehensive set of step-by-step instructions and helpful problem-solving tips for how practitioners can use derived relational responding to establish the skill area targeted in the particular chapter. The book includes a representative case study with sample learning objectives and hypothetical data. Other tools for practitioners, such as sample data sheets and suggestions for additional resources, are strongly encouraged. Read More