Date of Award

Fall 12-16-2024

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Educational Psychology and Special Education

First Advisor

Christopher A. Tullis

Second Advisor

Daniel Conine

Third Advisor

Ann Cale Kruger

Fourth Advisor

Sarah Hansen

Abstract

Instructive feedback (IF) is an instructional methodology that involves inserting secondary or non-targeted information into the consequent events of learning trials for primary or targeted skills (Werts et al., 1995). IF has been demonstrated to be effective with learners with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) including autism spectrum disorder (ASD; Vladescu & Kodak, 2013), and acquisition is not limited to a single target (Nottingham et al., 2017). However, limited research exists investigating the effects of IF on derived relational responding. The current study used a multiple probe across stimulus sets design to evaluate whether implementing IF procedures within a multiple exemplar training (MET) format targeting basic emotion words led to the acquisition of multiple secondary targets of subordinate emotion words and facilitated derived relational responding in the frame of comparison for two learners with ASD. Although one participant did not complete the entire study protocol, IF led to the acquisition of some secondary and emergent targets without explicit instruction, along with enhanced accuracy on a narrative reading comprehension task. Nonetheless, both participants required more intensive instructional support before IF effectively facilitated the acquisition of secondary targets. The intervention had high social validity with participants parents, and moderate social validity with the participants themselves. These results tentatively suggest that IF may facilitate derived relational responding within the frame of comparison, however additional research is needed. Limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.

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