Let’s learn together! The acquisition of Observational Learning repertoires as a function of peer-yoked contingencies in children with autism and other developmental disabilities

This work is about strategies to induce Observational Learning in children with autism or other developmental delays. Observational learning by individuals with disabilities has been the subject of research and inquiry over the past few decades (Browder, Schoen, & Lentz, 1987; Greer, Singer, & Gautreaux, 2006; Hallenbeck & Kauffman, 1995; Varni, Lovaas, Koegel, & Everett, 1979). The interest in this area could be attributed to the critical importance of observational learning in educational settings (Hallenbeck & Kauffman, 1995). Although observational learning appears to be unanimously considered as a fundamental requisite for individuals to successfully face different situations in everyday life, with special mention to students in classroom contexts, there seems to be poor agreement about its operational definition and its distinction from phenomena such as imitation, modeling and vicarious reinforcement (Greer, Dudek-Singer, & Gautreaux, 2006). The following review of the literature will try to summarize the most significant explanations and distinctions. Different studies tried to identify effective ways to induce observational learning (Davies-Lakey, 2005; Gautreaux, 2005; Greer et al., 2004; Pereira-Delgado, 2005; 2009; Rothstein & Gautreaux, 2007; Stolfi, 2005). The purpose of the experiments described in this dissertation was to test the relationship between a peer-yoked contingency and the acquisition of an observational learning repertoire in young children with developmental delays. Results and implications will be discussed.