Date of Award
Spring 2024
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Tiffany Kodak
Abstract
Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) services for learners with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other intellectual and developmental disabilities frequently involve teaching a variety of skills, such as those related to communication, daily-living, and safety. There is an extensive literature available demonstrating effective instructional procedures (e.g., discrete-trial teaching, prompt-fading strategies) as well as procedural or environmental modifications that clinicians can apply when teaching these skills; however, minimal literature exists to guide clinicians in applying these procedures when learners encounter a barrier to learning. Thus, it is unclear what systematic methods, if any, clinicians are using to determine efficacious and efficient instructional modifications. The present study evaluated the application of a problem-solving model which considers barriers caused by skill- and performance-deficits- to learners with ASD to identify and subsequently address barriers to learning on current acquisition goals.