A Within-Subject Comparison of Naturalistic Behaviour Intervention and Discrete Trial Teaching on the Acquisition of Verbal Operants

Abstract

Autistic children often present with deficits in language and communication skills. To address such deficits, children are referred to early intensive behaviour intervention (EIBI) to support meeting developmental goals. The purpose of this study was to conduct a within-subject comparison of two commonly used approaches to teaching language skills in EIBI, known as naturalistic behaviour intervention (NBI) and discrete trial teaching (DTT). The two participants recruited for this study were a 6-year-old boy diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and a 3-year-old girl diagnosed with ASD. Outcome measures consisted of determining the efficacy of each procedure, the extent to which each procedure led to mastery, social validity of each intervention, and finally, the extent to which skills taught during intervention generalized and maintained across time. Results of the study demonstrated that both DTT and NBI were efficacious in teaching language, both were efficient to varying degrees and both had varying levels of skill generalization and maintenance. Results of caregiver social validity indicated mixed perceptions for DTT and good perceptions for NBI. Participant assent scores were also mixed across the two approaches. Implications for using NBI and DTT during EIBI to teach language acquisition skills are discussed, along with recommendations for future research.