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ORCID
https://orcid.org/0009-0009-6693-1020
Date of Graduation
5-9-2024
Semester of Graduation
Spring
Degree Name
Master of Education (MEd)
Department
Department of Educational Foundations and Exceptionalities
Second Advisor
Benjamin Riden
Third Advisor
Joshua Pulos
Abstract
Common skills frequently taught to young learners in early childhood often include simple and conditional discriminations of stimuli. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of different array sizes presented to a learner when teaching auditory-visual conditional discriminations. An alternating treatments design was used to determine which array size led to the quickest and longest maintained skill acquisition. The researcher tested one participant’s ability to identify a shape from arrays of four, six, and nine. During baseline, the researcher observed low levels of responding in each array indicating this was not a skill the learner had in their repertoire. The researcher then taught shape identification by presenting each target shape in a different sized array using massed trials. Results indicated that each array size promoted similar skill acquisition and maintenance when identifying shapes, therefore there were no significant changes in learning when presenting the stimuli in different sized arrays. Once the learner displayed mastery with identifying shapes using massed trials, the researcher tested shape identification using dispersed trials in an array of nine. The results indicated the circle was the only shape that was consistently identified correctly when presented in an array with the other target shapes.
