Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

Document Type

Dissertation

Abstract

Recent research suggests that one-fifth of United States households use non-English languages in the home setting. Ethically and effectively supporting culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) clients (e.g., autistic individuals) presents a growing challenge to practitioners of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). Though efforts to address the linguistic needs of the population have grown in recent years, current literature focuses on language selection for monolingual services and underemphasizes the need for bilingual service provision. Studies were conducted to (I) evaluate the efficacy of bilingual picture exchange (i.e., mand response) across items, speakers, and languages (i.e., English and Spanish) as well as (II) explore the conditions under which, if at all, discrimination between languages emerged during bilingual communication training. Procedures for supporting language discrimination were developed for supporting learners who did not readily demonstrate the emergence of a language discrimination repertoire. Results revealed that multilingual communication training established a mand repertoire across multiple languages, targets, and speakers for two young autistic children. Language discrimination emerged without specific instruction for both learners in all but one target. For this target, language discrimination training procedures were effective in achieving language discrimination. Recommendations are provided related to supporting CLD autistic learners and culturally responsive practices for ABA practitioners.

Date

7-1-2024

Committee Chair

Gilroy, Shawn

DOI

https://doi.org/10.31390/gradschool_dissertations.6510

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