Question

In the 1960s, Ivar Lovaas and his colleagues took a monumental first step in addressing the fact that children with more severe forms of autism spectrum disorder would not respond to verbal instructions. This step involved using ________ to teach these children to imitate the verbalizations of others.

Answer 1

Answer: Shaping and discrimination training

Explanation: Autism could be explained as a developmental impairment which affects the interactive ability of an individual either with peer or in social gathering in including inability to communicate. In a bid to enable individuals to imitate others, the concept of shaping and discrimination is employed, this involves repetitive reinforcement of a certain behavior which is aimed at achieving a stipulated target behavior, such that the current behavior is gradually eroded until the target behavior is attained. The eroded behavior is also subjected to constant discrimination simultaneously during the shaping process in other to fast track it's extinction.