etadd_47(3) - Division on Autism and Developmental Disabilities

Procedure
Baseline. In this multiple probe design, students
received from three to six sessions of the
baseline treatment. During baseline sessions,
one story was read aloud to each student.
Students were then presented with four related
multiple-choice questions. Students
were provided up to ten seconds to respond to
the first question without prompting. After
ten seconds without a response, the question
was repeated with an additional ten-second
pause. Student responses included pointing to
the letter on the letter choice sheet or saying
the letter out loud. Following a response to
the first question, the next question was asked
and the same procedures were followed.
Intervention. During intervention, students
were presented with the picture symbol strip
corresponding to the text presented during
that session. Upon presentation of the picture
strip, students were asked to verbally describe
each photo. An investigator provided verbal
feedback by agreeing with or clarifying student
comments depending on each response.
Next, the investigator pointed to each picture
and described what it specifically represented.
For example, when presented with a photo of
Jupiter’s moon Triton, the investigator commented,
“Here is Jupiter. Do you see how it
looks rough? Scientists nicknamed it the cantaloupe
moon because it looks rough like a
cantaloupe. Do you see that?” After each
photo was described, the text was read aloud
to the student. Next, each photo was reviewed
as it related to the text. The description process
was interactive as students often commented
or asked questions and received responses.
Following the description, students
were presented with the first of five comprehension
questions followed by a ten-second
pause for a response before asking the next
question. If a student failed to respond within
ten seconds, the question was repeated and an
additional ten seconds provided for a response.
Social Validity
Prior to the first baseline session and following
the final intervention session, each student
and the teacher was interviewed by the
first author to determine his or her perceived
TABLE 4
Social Validity Questions for Students
Pre Is it sometimes hard for you to
understand what you hear?
Pre Is it sometimes hard for you to
understand stories that you hear?
Pre Does anything help you understand what
you hear?
Pre Do picture symbols help you understand
things that you hear?
Pre Do you like to listen to stories read aloud?
Pre What kinds of stories do you like?
Post Did looking at the pictures help you
understand the story?
Post Did talking about the pictures help you
understand the story better?
Post Did you like looking at and talking about
the pictures?
Post Would you like to use this intervention at
school?
Post Did you like the stories?
Post Which was your favorite story? Why?
Post Which was your least favorite story? Why?
Note. Pre questions asked prior to the study,
Post questions asked following the study
value of text comprehension, to assess
whether or not each liked the intervention,
and to gain insight on the practicality for the
intervention’s use in the classroom (Horner
et al., 2005). Informal interview questions (see
Tables 4 and 5) were used to assess the students’
and the teacher’s perspectives regarding
the independent and dependent variables.
Interobserver Agreement and Treatment Fidelity
To ensure data validity, the first author and a
trained classroom paraprofessional simultaneously
yet independently documented each student’s
responses to comprehension questions
during baseline and intervention conditions.
Interobserver agreement was conducted for
25–60% of baseline sessions with an average
of 38% of sessions covered. For the intervention
phase, interobserver agreement was conducted
for 33–44% of sessions with an average
of 36% of all baseline intervention sessions
covered. Responses were compared to calculate
reliability. Matching responses were labeled
agreements and those not matching
Comprehension of Typical Texts / 365