Improved Attending in an 8-Year-Old Boy Diagnosed with Down Syndrome through Teaching with Acoustical Guidance

Authors

Jessica Bracken, St. Cloud State University; Beyond Behavior, LLCFollow
Cara Holtz, Beyond Behavior, LLCFollow
Benjamin Witts, St. Cloud State UniversityFollow

Faculty Mentor(s)

Benjamin Witts

Abstract

Skill acquisition can be particularly difficult when prerequisites are lacking (e.g., attending to learning materials) that are necessary to expand academic abilities. However, behavioral technologies exist that can help individuals overcome, or at least improve their quality of life despite these difficulties. The current case study used a quasi-changing-criterions-design to examine the effectiveness of a Teaching with Acoustical Guidance (TAGteach) technique to increase attending to learning materials in an eight-year-old participant with Down syndrome. The TAGteach technique was effective in increasing the percentage of trials in which the participant looked at materials and the duration of looking at presented materials during learning trials. Furthermore, results generalized to a leisure task, showing that the intervention was not only academic, but also has the ability to improve on quality of life.

Recommended Citation

Bracken, Jessica; Holtz, Cara; and Witts, Benjamin (2022) "Improved Attending in an 8-Year-Old Boy Diagnosed with Down Syndrome through Teaching with Acoustical Guidance," SCSU Journal of Student Scholarship: Vol. 2: Iss. 1, Article 2.
Available at: https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/joss/vol2/iss1/2