An Evaluation of Conditional Manding Using a Four-Component Multiple Schedule

Most verbal behavior curricula for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) focus on teaching multiple mands during the early stages of training (e.g., picture exchange communication system; Bondy & Frost, 1994). However, few, if any, of those curricula train children with ASD to differentially mand only for reinforcers that are reasonable for a caregiver to deliver in a given context (e.g., mands to cuddle at bedtime) and to refrain from manding for reinforcers that would be inappropriate to deliver in that context (e.g., mands to play outside at bedtime). In this study, we first taught a boy with ASD two initial mands. Immediately thereafter we brought those mands under the conditional discriminative control of a four-component multiple schedule with (a) S¹ correlated with one reinforcer available (i.e., edibles), (b) S² correlated with both reinforcers available (i.e., edibles or drink), (c) S³ correlated with another reinforcer available (i.e., drink), and (d) S^Δ correlated with no reinforcer available. Following treatment, the child displayed conditionally discriminated manding in accordance with each of the four components of the schedule. We discuss these findings relative to the potential benefits of bringing mands under both evocative and discriminative control.

     

Family Ties and Young Fathers' Engagement in Cape Town,South Africa

Young South African fathers are often engaged in their children's lives even if they do not live together. Using longitudinal data on children (n = 1,209) from the Cape Town area, the authors show that although only 26% of young fathers live with their children, 66% of nonresidential fathers maintain regular contact, and 61% provide financial support. The father–child relationship, however, is embedded in broader family ties. The type of father–mother relationship is strongly associated with whether fathers coreside with their children but not with fathers' contact with nonresidential children. Close mother and maternal grandmother bonds reduce the likelihood that fathers live with their children, whereas close ties between fathers and paternal grandmothers increase the chance that fathers visit nonresidential children. Family ties do not affect fathers' financial contributions, which are driven by men's current economic situation. These findings illustrate that father–child relationships are best understood in the context of interacting family systems.     

Reducing Palilalia by Presenting Tact Corrections to Young Children with Autism

Palilalia, the delayed repetition of words or phrases, occurs frequently among individuals with autism and developmental disabilities. The current study used a combined multiple baseline and reversal design to investigate the effectiveness of presenting tacts as corrections for palilalia. During baseline, five preschoolers with autism emitted high rates of palilalia and low rates of mands and tacts during play and instructional activities. During treatment, when experimenters presented opportunities to echoically tact actions and objects following the emission of palilalia, its frequency decreased to low and stable levels and mands and tacts increased. Functional relationships between the tact corrections and emissions of palilalia, mands, and tacts were established during reversals to baseline and treatment conditions. Similar trends in responding were found for frequency of palilalia, mands, and tacts in non-treatment settings.     

Narrative analysis in aging studies: A typology for consideration

This article seeks to expand our understanding on narrative and the analysis of stories researchers invite and collect in the domain of aging studies. To do so, we first offer an understanding of what narrative inquiry can be by laying out a theoretical basis for this kind of research, and making a case for the relevance of narrative as an alternative methodology. Painting with broad strokes, narrative analysis as a method is then considered before a typology of different ways in which stories can be analyzed is introduced. Illuminated by the typology are two contrasting standpoints toward narrative analysis—storyteller and story analyst—and three specific methods—structural, performative, and autoethnograpic creative analytic practices—that each standpoint might use to analyse the whats and hows of storytelling. The article closes by suggesting that in order to assist us to understand the complexities of aging researchers might consider using a variety of analyses.     

Where are They from and How Far Must They Go? Examining Location and Travel Distance in U.S. Abortion Fund Patients

The current study examines a secondary data analysis of 3,452 administrative cases from a national abortion fund representing patients who received pledges for financial assistance to pay for an abortion from 2010 to 2015 in the United States, where abortion costs are not covered under federal public health programs. Case data were analyzed to assess patients' geographic origin, and whether or not cases were more likely to originate from states with Medicaid and private insurance restrictions. The anticipated travel distance to the provider and whether or not travel distances had been increasing over time were also examined. Results indicate that the majority of pledges are made to residents of the South, Midwest, states without expanded Medicaid access to abortion, and states that have private insurance restrictions on abortion coverage. Results further indicate that those who receive funding pledges anticipated traveling approximately 225 kilometers (140 miles) on average to access the abortion. This distance increased from 2010 to 2015, with patients seeking second trimester procedures expecting to travel nearly 3 times farther than patients in their first term. Abortion fund patients travel great distances to access an abortion and those distances are increasing over time. It is recommended that policy restricting public funding of abortion be repealed to improve access to abortion not only in the United States, but also in other countries where policy restrictions may impede access to abortion, even when it is legal.     

Instructional Demonstrations are More Efficient Than Consequences Alone for Children with Naming

Prior research found that without the naming cusp, children did not learn from instructional demonstrations presented before learn units (IDLUs) (i.e., modeling an expected response twice for a learner prior to delivering an instructional antecedent), however, following the establishment of naming, they could. The present study was designed to compare the rate of learning reading and mathematics objectives in children who showed naming using IDLUs compared to standard learn units (SLUs) alone (comparable to three-term contingency trials). In Phase 1, a pre-screening phase, we demonstrated that four typically developing males, 3 to 4 years of age, had naming within their repertoire, meaning they were able to master the names of novel 2-D stimuli as both a listener and a speaker without explicit instruction. Using the same participants in Phase 2, we compared rates of learning under two instructional methods using a series of repeated AB designs where conditions (IDLUs versus SLUs) were counterbalanced across dyads and replicated across participants. The participants learned more than twice as fast under IDLU conditions and showed between 30% and 50% accuracy on the first presentation of a stimulus following a model. The IDLU condition was more efficient (fewer trials to criterion) than the SLU condition. These findings, together with prior findings, suggest that the onset of naming allows children to learn faster when instructional demonstrations are incorporated into lessons.

     

Gender and Families: Feminist Perspectives and Family Research

This review provides a selective overview of scholarship on gender and families over the past decade. First, we discuss four characteristics of feminist perspectives to theoretical and methodological issues in social science. Then we describe briefly how feminist sensibility has been reflected in family scholarship over the past decade. We conclude with brief observations on the disjuncture between academic work on gender and the feminist backlash apparent in the contemporary culture.