Equating and Assigning Targets in the Adapted Alternating Treatments Design: Review of Special Education Journals

The current review examined the prevalence of the adapted alternating treatments design (AATD) across 22 special education journals and methods to equate and assign target sets to experimental conditions in the AATD. Since the seminal description of the design in 1985, a total of 49 articles were published using the AATD across 12 of the reviewed journals. The most prominent methods of equating target sets differed from prior reviews of behavior-analytic journals, likely due to the preponderance of response chains being targeted in special education research using the AATD. The majority of articles describe at least one method for equating target sets, although multiple methods were common. Additional methodological strengths in this literature included methods to reduce potential bias when assigning target sets to experimental conditions and counterbalancing target sets across participants. Considerations for practitioners and researchers when using the AATD are described.

Comparing the Minimum Celeration Line and the Beat Your Personal Best Goal-Setting Approaches During the Mathematical Practice of Students Diagnosed with Autism

This study compared two goal-setting approaches found in the Precision Teaching literature, namely the minimum celeration line and the beat your personal best during the mathematical practice of three male students diagnosed with autism, aged 8–9. An adapted alternating treatments design with a control condition was embedded in a concurrent multiple baseline across participants design. Each approach was randomly allocated to either the multiplication/division (×÷) table of 18 or 19, while no approach was allocated to the ×÷14 table that acted as a control. Instruction utilized number families and consisted of (a) untimed practice, (b) frequency-building, (c) performance criteria, (d) graphing, and (e) a token economy. Upon practice completion, an assessment of maintenance, endurance, stability, and application (MESA) was conducted. Participants improved with both conditions and maintained their performance well, while improvements with the control condition were weak. The beat your personal best approach was highlighted as slightly more effective in terms of average performance and more efficient in terms of timings needed to achieve criterion. No differences were identified in terms of learning rate (i.e., celeration) or performance on the MESA. More research is warranted to identify which goal-setting procedure is more appropriate for students in special education.

A Comparison of iPad-Assisted and Flash Card-Assisted Instruction for Learners With Autism

Using electronic tablets to present flash cards for teaching skills is becoming common among practitioners. However, no published study compared the effectiveness of the electronic tablet-based flash cards to paper flash cards for teaching receptive labeling skills. The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of the iPad-based and paper flash cards for teaching receptive labeling to learners with autism. An adapted alternating treatments design was used. Participants included one preschool student with autism and one elementary school student with autism. Findings indicated that iPad-assisted instruction resulted in a slightly faster acquisition and slightly lower levels of prompts for both participants. No differences were found in the generalization and maintenance of the skills between the two instructional mediums. Mixed results were found for challenging behaviors associated with each intervention. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Review of Methods to Equate Target Sets in the Adapted Alternating Treatments Design

The adapted alternating treatments design is a commonly used experimental design in skill acquisition research. This design allows for the evaluation of two or more independent variables on responding to unique target sets. Equating target sets is necessary to ensure a valid comparison of the independent variables. To date, there is little guidance on best practice when equating target sets and it is unclear how researchers have done so previously. We reviewed the reported methods used to equate target sets in articles published using the adapted alternating treatments design in five behavior-analytic journals. Just over half of the studies published using the adapted alternating treatments design reported any method to equate target sets and the methods varied considerably. Alternative methods, such as random assignment, were prevalent. Considerations for best practice and avenues for future research are discussed.

A Comparison of Guided Notes and Video Modules in an Online Course

The purpose of the study was to compare the effects of guided notes versus video modules as a supplement to textbook readings on student quiz scores and to evaluate the overall effectiveness of guided notes in a fully online course. A total of 15 graduate students, aged 22 to 30, participated in this study. The study combined an adapted alternating treatments design and a pretest-posttest design with all participants experienced in both teaching methods in the same sequence. The experimental conditions contained the textbook readings supplemented with guided notes versus video modules. Results indicated both guided notes and video modules were effective, but students' quiz scores were significantly higher under the video modules condition than the guided notes condition. No difference was found in students' perceived helpfulness of the materials, but the students enjoyed video modules significantly more than guided notes.

An Exploratory Analysis of Quality Indicators in Adapted Alternating Treatments Designs

The single-case adapted alternating treatments design allows for an experimental comparison between two independent variables applied across two equally difficult, yet functionally independent, dependent variables. The design has been used prominently within the special education and behavior analysis literature since its inception. Despite its history and continued use, there are currently no formalized quality standards specific to the adapted alternating treatments design. Given the rise of evidence-based practices and the increased number of organizations developing quality and rigor standards, a discussion and evaluation of quality indicators specific to adapted alternating treatments designs is warranted. We provide an overview of quality indicators and examine their prevalence over the years within a subset of studies commonly incorporating the adapted alternating treatments design. Implications for researchers who use the design and organizations that develop standards for single-case research are discussed. Copies of coding tables and syntax in Microsoft Excel and SPSS formats may be obtained via Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/guw6h/ .

Dialogic Reading and Adapted Dialogic Reading With Preschoolers With Autism Spectrum Disorder

An adapted alternating treatments design, replicated across two books, was used to examine the effects of Dialogic Reading delivered using traditional paperback books and technology-enhanced books utilizing a Surface tablet on the vocabulary acquisition of four preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder. For each book, 30 words were randomly assigned to conditions (i.e., 10 to traditional Dialogic Reading, 10 to Dialogic Reading with technology, 10 to control). Intervention was delivered 1 to 4 times per week across 6 months. Results suggest both methods increased vocabulary compared with baseline. Dialogic Reading delivered via both paperback and technology-enhanced books is promising for increasing vocabulary for preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder.

Disfluent Font Can Hinder Sight-Word Acquisition in Students With Intellectual Disability

Students with intellectual disability often have difficulty reading commonly used words. Researchers have found altering printed text from fluent, easy-to-read font, to disfluent, difficult-to-read font can enhance comprehension and recall. An adapted alternating treatments design was used to evaluate and compare sight-word acquisition and maintenance in three postsecondary students with intellectual disability when flashcards were presented in fluent (i.e., 14-point Arial) and disfluent (i.e., 14-point Juice ITC reduced to 70% transparency) fonts. Results showed all three students acquired and maintained both fluent and disfluent words, with two of the three students learning more fluent words. These findings suggest altering fonts to make them difficult to read can hinder, rather than enhance, word learning in students with intellectual disability. Directions for future research are provided with a focus on the need for aptitude-treatment interaction studies.

A Comparison of High and Low Dosages of a Component of Milieu Teaching Strategies for Two Preschool-Age Learners With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Purpose The intersection of treatment intensity and communication intervention is an emerging area of investigation. Milieu teaching (MT) approaches for teaching communication skills to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have a substantial evidence base (see Goldstein, 2002). However, a relatively small percentage (37.8%) of MT studies have fully detailed the parameters that are required to determine treatment intensity (Parker-McGowan et al., 2014). This study compared the effect of two dosages of the modeling component of milieu teaching on acquisition and maintenance of new vocabulary for two preschoolers with ASD. Method Low- and high-dosage conditions were compared within an adapted alternating treatments design. Participants were two preschool-age children with ASD. Results Results suggested a functional relationship between dose of MT models and acquisition of vocabulary items. For 1 participant, a high-dose application yielded more efficient acquisition. For the second participant, a low-dose application yielded more efficient acquisition. Conclusion The results of this study highlight the influence of individual differences in ostensibly similar persons and response to intervention. The need for better quantifying dosage parameters and examining the relationship between dosage and intervention approaches for preschool-age learners with ASD is discussed.