Date of Graduation

Summer 2024

Degree

Master of Science in Psychology

Department

Psychology

Committee Chair

Jordan Belisle

Abstract

The Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge (PEAK) Relational Training System is an assessment and curriculum tool developed for basic and advanced language skills using behavior analytic approaches (Dixon, 2016). Maintenance describes the retention of performance following the progression of time. In the present study, the purpose was to determine if maintenance was achieved on previously mastered PEAK programs, both in terms of the content and the verbal relational operant (i.e., generalization to new, untrained content). De-identified data were analyzed for five autistic learners (six to fourteen years old) receiving ABA services at a Midwestern clinic. Programs were selected from the previous two months from when probes began. First, a mastery probe was conducted on the mastered stimuli from an initial program. Second, a probe with a novel set of stimuli was conducted. In cases where the participants did not show mastery of the content or the operant, relational training was conducted with the novel stimuli followed by testing with the novel and the original stimuli. Results showed that maintenance of program content was inconsistent and generalization to novel stimuli was not observed. However, faster acquisition rates were observed for retraining and reinstatement of prior learning was observed in some cases.

Keywords

maintenance, generalization, verbal relational operants, PEAK relational training system, autism, renewal, probes, mastery criteria

Subject Categories

Applied Behavior Analysis

Copyright

© Jenna Huskey

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Open Access

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