Teaching children with autism through task variation in physical education.

Teaching children with autism through task variation in physical education. For more than 40 years, researchers and teachers in physicaleducation have been concerned with the way certain variables affect thelearning experiences of students (e.g., Ammons, 1947; Caplan, 1969;Digman, 1959). Many researchers have compared the influence of constantpractice and distributed practice methods on students' acquisitionof motor skills. In constant practice, only one experimental task oractivity is presented per session. According to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. Drowatzy (1970), thisis commonly referred to as "massed practice,""fixed-format," or the "serial" approach.Distributed practice typically includes rest pauses or alternate skillslearning between practice trials. Physical educators and coaches havesuccessfully used both forms of learning with students withoutdisabilities. According to Ammons (1950), Caplan (1969), Digman (1959), andKoonce, Chambliss, and Irion (1964), distributed practice conditions aresuperior for people without disabilities. However, Ammons (1947),Harmon and Oxendine (1961) and Young (1954) have indicated that massedpractice is also effective. Other studies showed no significantdifferences in learning for people without disabilities, for massed anddistributed practice (Carron, 1969; Graw, 1968; Stelmach, 1969; Whitley,1970). In most cases, the conditions of these studies were notcomparable. Moreover, these studies did not address the needs of peoplewith disabilities--nor, more specifically, those with autism autism(ô`tĭzəm), developmental disability resulting from a neurological disorder that affects the normal functioning of the brain. It is characterized by the abnormal development of communication skills, social skills, and reasoning. . In the past 10 years, however, research in special educationconcerning the academic classroom performance of children with autismhas become more prevalent (Dunlap, 1984; Dunlap & Koegel, 1980a;Winterling, Dunlap, & O'Neill, 1987). Many of these studiesinvolved various forms of distributed practice. A classic case wasDunlap's (1984) investigation. In Dunlap (1984), a specific type of distributed learning Distributed Learning means a method of instruction that relies primarily on indirect communication between students and teachers, including internet or other electronic-based delivery, teleconferencing or correspondence; (British Columbia, School Act, 2006). referredto as "task variation with maintenance tasks interspersed" wascompared with a constant task condition in a special education classroomfor students with autism. Dunlap's results indicated that the taskvariation condition was significantly more effective than the constanttask condition for learning cognitive skills in the special educationclassroom. However, Dunlap's findings are not necessarilytransferable to a physical education setting. Singer (1975) and Gagne(1973) suggested that there are five domains of learning--motor skills,verbal skills, intellectual skills, cognitive strategies, andattitudes--and that a particular learning condition or technique can besuccessful for one of the five domains of learning and not necessarilyfor another. In fact, Singer and Gagne both indicated that theconditions or techniques that are the most powerful or successful areusually unique to a specific domain. The question addressed here is: Is the distributed-learningtechnique used by Dunlap (1984) more effective than a constant taskcondition in teaching gross motor skills to students with autism? Wehave been concerned that procedures used in physical education classesfor students with autism have not maximized instructional time. Norhave the procedures accounted for individual learning characteristicssuch as slow acquisition, short attention span, and a reduced ability togeneralize generalize/gen��er��al��ize/ (-iz)1. to spread throughout the body, as when local disease becomes systemic.2. to form a general principle; to reason inductively. (French & Jansma, 1982; Sherrill, 1986), whichdifferentiate people with autism from other learners (Mulligan, Guess,Holvoet, & Brown, 1980). In the area of motor learning, most of the research has beendirected toward the acquisition of fine motor skills in novel motortasks. Little information is available concerning the acquisition ofgross motor skills, and the literature appears to be void in studiesinvolving practice conditions for gross motor skills by people withautism. METHOD Design The design for this study was a pretest-posttest configuration; twoexperimental task sequences were analyzed for skill acquisition. Nocontrol group was used. This design is useful for observing thecomparative effect of two treatments (Thorpe Thorpe? , James Francis Known as "Jim." 1888-1953.American athlete. An outstanding collegiate football player, he later played professional football and baseball. , 1986). To control fororder effects, the group taught first each day was alternated betweenthe two conditions (Hersen & Barlow bar��low?n.An inexpensive, one- or two-bladed pocketknife.[After Barlow, the family name of its makers, two brothers in Sheffield, England.] , 1976; Kazdin & Hartmann,1978). Selection of Subjects The subjects for this study were 12 autistic autistic/au��tis��tic/ (aw-tis��tik) characterized by or pertaining to autism. males, ages 11-15,representing the total population from one rural school. All werepreviously diagnosed as autistic. For the purposes of inclusion in thisstudy, the subjects had to satisfy the criteria suggested by Coleman(1976). All students displayed rocking, hand flapping, and mouthing andspinning of objects. According to Rimland Rimland is the maritime fringe of a country or continent; in particular, the densely populated western, southern, and eastern edges of the Eurasian continent.According to Nicholas John Spykman, who revisited Halford Mackinder's concepts of geopolitics, the Rimland is that (1964) and Ritvo and Freeman(1978), these characteristics represent classical self-stimulatorybehavior for autistic individuals. Each student was estimated to have asocial quotient quotient - The number obtained by dividing one number (the "numerator") by another (the "denominator"). If both numbers are rational then the result will also be rational. between 20 and 35 on the Vineland Social Maturity Scalewhen tested by the school psychologist. The subjects were randomlyassigned to the constant (massed) task treatment group (E1) or thedistributed-learning technique of task variation (with interspersedmaintenance tasks) treatment group (E2). The six students in E1 had amean social quotient on the Vineland Social Maturity Scale of 28.5(range 24-35, SD 3.62) and a mean age of 13 years, with a range of 11-15years. The six students in E2 had a mean social quotient on theVineland Social Maturity Scale of 28.0 (range 24-35, SD 3.52) and a meanage of 13 years, with a range of 11-15 years. All children werenonverbal non��ver��bal?adj.1. Being other than verbal; not involving words: nonverbal communication.2. Involving little use of language: a nonverbal intelligence test. and were considered to be homogeneous in their psychologicalbehavior, which included behavior disorders. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES The experimental procedures used throughout this study are similarto those suggested by Dunlap (1984), except that the skills involved aregross motor skills rather than cognitive. According to Singer (1975), agreat disparity may exist because students react differently to variousteaching methods when learning motor skills. Experimental Conditions Physical Environment. All teaching and evaluation sessions wereconducted in a 30 ft by 20 ft room with a 10 ft (3m) ceiling. Access tothe room was through one set of double doors that had a small window,through which sessions could be observed from an adjoining room. Theroom was equipped with three bicycle ergometers, one minitrampoline, anda storage box filled with balls of various sizes.Instructional Conditions. A four-teachers-to-six-students format wasmaintained for all sessions. The teachers worked with four students on aone-to-one basis while the other two students were riding the bicycleergometers. During the course of each class session, each teachernormally worked at least once with each child so that the child did notbecome dependent on one specific teacher. The instructors for this study were two females and two malesranging in age from 23 to 42. All four were adapted physical education Adapted physical education is a sub-discipline of physical education. It is an individualized program created for students who require a specially designed program for more than 30 days. aides with a minimum of 8 months of teaching experience in adaptedphysical education. Each instructor had completed extensive inservicetraining in adapted physical education under the supervision of anadapted physical education specialist. In addition, as suggested byDunlap (1984) and Koegel, Russo, and Rincover (1977), each had completedinservice training courses in operant conditioning operant conditioningn.A process of behavior modification in which a subject is encouraged to behave in a desired manner through positive or negative reinforcement, so that the subject comes to associate the pleasure or displeasure of the and had been trainedto an 80% criterion level in the use of behavior modification behavior modificationn.1. The use of basic learning techniques, such as conditioning, biofeedback, reinforcement, or aversion therapy, to teach simple skills or alter undesirable behavior.2. See behavior therapy. forchildren with autism by the Director of Special Education. All fourworked with both treatment groups. Regular assessments of on-task behavior for all the instructorswere conducted, as recommended by Dunlap (1984) and Dunlap and Koegel(1980a). These procedures had been adopted as a part of the standardoperating code at this school; however, for the present study, theseassessments were conducted twice per week rather than once per month.Similar to Dunlap (1984), the teachers were expected to maintain atleast an 80% performance level of ontask activity throughout all theirteaching for all tasks under both conditions. Because all four teachers conducted instructional periods with bothtreatment groups, the potential for teacher bias was a concern. Tocontrol for this potential effect, as recommended by Drew (1980), theteachers were not aware of the experimental hypothesis. The teacherswere told that the students had been grouped and assigned to theirrespected treatment classes to address their individual needs forvarying instructional methods as suggested by their test scores.Instructional Procedures. The instructional procedures used in thisstudy were similar to those used by Dunlap (1984) and Dunlap and Koegel(1980b). During the study, the standard teaching techniques of physicalshaping, physical assistance, physical prompting, and socialreinforcement were applied (Fait, 1960; French & Jansma 1982;Sherrill, 1986). These techniques were provided and then were slowlyeliminated until the students responded successfully on their own. If astudent failed to respond successfully after three consecutive trials,the teacher went back to the next lower level in the teaching techniquesused. All correct responses, whether with physical shaping, physicalassistance, prompting, or independent action, were reinforced withsocial reinforcement and a "pat on the back." Similar toDunlap (1984), incorrect responses resulted in the teacher's saying"No --" (using the subject's name) and withdrawingattention. An off-task or disruptive behavior was treated according tothe procedural guidelines suggested by Arnheim, Auxter, and Crowe(1969). These procedures had been approved by the school'sinterdisciplinary team interdisciplinary team,n a group that consists of specialists from several fields combining skills and resources to present guidance and information. . The procedures routinely consisted of plannedignoring, signal interference, proximity control, or brief physicalrestraint Physical restraint refers to the practice of rendering people helpless or keeping them in captivity by means such as handcuffs, shackles, straitjackets, ropes, straps, or other forms of physical restraint. (Arnheim et al., 1969). Instructional sessions were held for a 45-min duration for bothconditions. The performance criterion of 9 correct independentresponses out of 10 consecutive trials of the task, which Dunlap (1984)used, was selected as the successful performance criterion for endingtraining. This criterion applied to all experimental tasks in bothconditions. However, throughout the training period and duringinstruction, these criteria were never met. Classes for all students were conducted 5 days per week. A minimumof 15 min was provided between the two classes so that teachers couldarrange equipment, use the bathroom, organize data sheets, and allowstudents to move to and from classes. Independent Variables The question addressed in this experiment is whether thedistributed practice technique of task variation (with maintenance tasksinterspersed) is more effective than a constant task condition (commonlyreferred to as massed practice) when teaching gross motor skills topeople with autism. Six experimental acquisition tasks were randomlypresented under both conditions. In addition, the task-variation grouppracticed the extra-experimental tasks of run, catch, and hop, whichthey had previously learned but were maintaining. A completedescription of each of the experimental and extra-experimental tasks areprovided in the I CAN Fundamental Skills box (Wessel, 1976). Figure 1shows the task analyses used in this study.Constant Task Condition (CT). Similar to Dunlap (1984), only oneexperimental task was presented per session for the CT condition. Theexperimental task was presented repeatedly until one skill was learned,or until the class period elapsed e��lapse?intr.v. e��lapsed, e��laps��ing, e��laps��esTo slip by; pass: Weeks elapsed before we could start renovating.n. (Dunlap, 1984). Because of the skilllevel of these students, the 45-min time period elapsed in all cases.Each of the six tasks assigned to this condition was separatelypresented for 1 week. All students were assigned the same task. Becausethere were only six subjects, the four teachers were able to monitorwhether subjects were attending to task. If a student appeared not tobe on task, the instructor used verbal and physical prompts. After the6-week training period, each subject underwent a posttest post��test?n.A test given after a lesson or a period of instruction to determine what the students have learned. for all sixtasks. These procedures are comparable to those employed by Dunlap(1984) and Dunlap and Koegel (1980b). Distributed Learning (Task Variation-with-Maintenance-Task)Condition (TV). Similar to Dunlap (1984), all six experimental taskswere randomly presented with the three extra-experimental tasks thatwere to be maintained. These tasks were interspersed between each ofthe experimental tasks over the class period. This procedure resultedin a total of nine tasks being randomly interspersed throughout the45-min sessions, with a maximum of 2 or 3 min spent on any one task.The use of 2- or 3-min sessions was a deviation from Dunlap's(1984) procedures, in which he suggested 15 min; but the shortersessions were used because in previous work with students with autism,the average attention span appeared to be a maximum of 3 min. Duringparticipation on each task, no more than three trials were performed orrequested at once. Thus, each TV session consisted of the six tasks tobe acquired and the three tasks including independent performance to bemaintained while subjects were working toward a mature performancepattern. These procedures were similar to those used by Dunlap (1984)and Dunlap and Koegel (1980a). Assignment of Subjects to Treatments Experimental Tasks. Prior to this study, 12 subjects wereindependently pretested by using the I CAN Class Performance ScoreSheets (CPSS CPSS Committee on Payment and Settlement SystemsCPSS Commission on Public Secondary SchoolsCPSS Cincinnati Prehospital Stroke Scale (STR - Smile, Talk, Raise both arms)CPSS Certified Professional Soil Scientist ) (Wessel, 1976) for each performance objective found in theI CAN Fundamental Skills box by the Coordinator of Adapted PhysicalEducation. From this pretest pre��test?n.1. a. A preliminary test administered to determine a student's baseline knowledge or preparedness for an educational experience or course of study.b. A test taken for practice.2. , six experimental tasks were selected onthe basis of the following criteria, suggested by Dunlap (1984): 1. Appropriate to the subject's general level of functioning. 2. Appropriate for the subject's chronological age chron��o��log��i��cal agen. Abbr. CAThe number of years a person has lived, used especially in psychometrics as a standard against which certain variables, such as behavior and intelligence, are measured. . 3. Unlearned, as determined by pretests. In addition, these skills were selected because they areprerequisite skills for more complex skills such as those used insoccer, basketball, and softball softball,variant of baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Invented (1888) in Chicago as an indoor game, it was at various times called indoor baseball, mush ball, playground ball, kitten ball, and, because it was also played by women, ladies' . A second pretest was conducted 1 weekbefore starting experimental sessions for only the six selected tasks(Weber & Thorpe, 1989). During this pretest, each student was given10 trials. This second pretest was conducted by two graduate students inadapted physical education. Both graduate students had completed acourse in assessment procedures for adapted physical education. Theirinstructor was the Coordinator of Adapted Physical Education, who hadextensive training with the I CAN CPSS and had served as a regionalcoordinator for the I CAN materials. Objectivity for the administration of the tests was enhanced inthat the same two graduate assistants administered both the pretest andthe posttest and that neither assistant was involved in teaching thestudent or aware of the treatment groups to which they were assigned. A 100% agreement between the two testers and the Coordinator ofAdapted Physical Education was required for completion of a skill focalpoint focal pointn.See focus. . During both pretest and posttest procedures, the testers were intotal agreement for all 12 subjects for each of the six skills. The ICAN criteria for completing 2 out of 3 trials for acceptance wasreplaced by a 9 out of 10 criteria for this study. Based on the resultsof the pretest, the following tasks were selected: (a) overhand o��ver��hand? also o��ver��hand��edadj.1. Executed with the hand brought forward and down from above the level of the shoulder: an overhand pitch; an overhand stroke.2. throw,(b) kick, (c) vertical jump, (d) slide, (e) continuous bounce, and (f)underhand roll. These procedures are the same as those used by Weberand Thorpe (1989). A complete explanation of these tasks and focalpoints for each performance objective can be found in I CAN by Wessel(1976). Extra-Exprimental Tasks. Whereas the tasks of run, catch, and hopwere originally selected as possible experimental tasks, the subjectscould perform these tasks without assistance. However, the students hadnot prefected these three tasks at a mature level, as measured by thefocal points on the I CAN CPSS and the 90% success criterion used forthis study. Because students had some level of success in these threeskills and were attempting to refine them, these skills were labeledextra-experimental tasks; therefore, no statistical analyses wereperformed for these tasks. [TABULAR DATA OMITTED] Data Collection Recorders of data were four graduate students in adapted physicaleducation with experience in recording operationally defined behavior ofpeople with disabilities (Dunlap, 1984). These observers were naivewith respect to the experimental hypothesis. Each observer was trainedin the use of the I CAN CPSS and, before involvement in the experiment,had been tested on its proper use. In addition, these observers were familiar with the subjects andhad spent at least 1 hr in observing these same subjects in a variety ofclassroom and free-play situations. These observers recorded the timespent on each task; these data were used to evaluate the efficiency oftime used by the teachers and to ensure that there were no majordifferences for the time spent on task between the two trainingconditions (Drew, 1980; Weber & Thorpe, 1989). Throughout thestudy, the teachers for both training sessions maintained an 81%efficiency level of on-task performance. RESULTS For each of the six gross motor skills and for the total of all sixskills, pretest, posttest, and gain scores were analyzed to determineany statistical differences between the TV and CT techniques. The .05level of significance was established for rejection of thenull-hypothesis because the risk of a Type I error was not serious. Results of the first analysis (pretest for TV versus CT) appear inTable 1. Four of the mean scores had no variance and could not besubjected to a t test. The four pretests that resulted in numericaldifferences between TV and CT groups were for the continuous bounce,kick, overhand throw, and total of all of the six skills combined, infavor of the CT group. However, these differences were notstatistically significant. The t-test comparison for the second analysis (posttest for TVversus CT) indicated significance at the .001 level for continuousbounce, kick, vertical jump, slide, and total score for all six skills.The analyses for the skills of underhand roll and overhand throw weresignificant at beyond the .05 level. In fact, probabilities ranged from.0001 to .0201. The higher means in all cases were for the TV group(see Table 1). When gain scores for the two groups were analyzed, all weresignificant, confirming that the gain of the TV group was superior (seeTable 1). DISCUSSION The results of this experiment indicated that a distributedlearning technique of task variation (with maintenance tasksinterspersed) (TV) condition was superior to the constant task (CT)condition in terms of skill acquisition of basic gross motor skills, asevaluated by the I CAN CPSS when teaching individuals with autism. Theresults, although limited to skill acquisition for the gross motorskills of continuous bounce, kick, underhand roll, overhand throw,vertical jump, and slide independently, are similar to findings byBaumeister and Berry (1967); Brigham and Sherman (1968); Dent andJohnson (1964); Dunlap (1984); Dunlap and Koegel (1980b); Lovass,Berberich, Perloff, and Schaeffer (1966); Madsen (1963); and Peterson(1968). In these studies, the TV condition was the most productive interms of producing positive levels of skill acquisition in various areasin special education classrooms. Though these results are similar to those of previous studies byMulligan et al. (1980) for massed versus distributed practice and byBerlyne (1960) on stimulus variation, the data suggest a new area forinvestigation in adapted physical education because this study is thefirst to involve students with autism. In previous studies, thedistributed practice method of learning (with maintenance tasksinterspersed among the target trials) was reported to be superior in thespecial education classroom setting (Baumeister & Berry, 1967;Brigham & Sherman, 1968; Dent & Johnson, 1964; Dunlap, 1984;Dunlap & Koegel, 1980a; Lovass et al., 1966; Madsen, 1963; Peterson,1968). These findings also appear to be true for students withdisabilities involved in adapted physical education, based on theresults of this study and an earlier investigation by Weber and Thorpe(1989) involving individuals with severe disabilities. It should benoted that the experiments with students without disabilities that didnot include previously learned tasks in the distributed practice,reported no consistent differences in the rate of acquisition (Cuvo,Klevans, Borakove, Borakove, Van Landuyt, & Lutzker, 1980; Panyan& Hall, 1978; Schroeder & Baer, 1972). Thus, consistent withDunlap (1984), Dunlap and Koegel (1980b), and Neef, Iwata, and Page(1980), it appears that the presence of maintenance tasks interspersedwith new tasks to be learned may be very important for students withautism. The results of the current study and a previous study by Weber andThorpe (1989) suggest that the tasks being maintained might beinfluential by increasing reinforcement frequency. Dunlap (1984)suggested that learning may be promoted by an increased frequency ofreinforcement, which acts as a motivating device. However, earlierstudies by Koegel and Egel (1979) and Neef et al. (1980) indicated thatan increase in reinforcement frequency will not necessarily facilitatelearning. Much more research is needed in this area. A second possible advantage for using TV may be that this techniquecan deal more effectively with the short attention span that is one ofthe characteristics of people with autism (French & Jansma, 1982;Sherrill, 1986). By matching the time spent on any one task with thegiven attention span of the student, teachers might provide moreeffective instruction. Sherrill (1986) indicated that the greatestchallenges teachers face in teaching motor tasks are students'short attention spans, communication difficulties, and a pathological 1. pathological - [scientific computation] Used of a data set that is grossly atypical of normal expected input, especially one that exposes a weakness or bug in whatever algorithm one is using. resistance to change, which is manifested by the observance of rituals.She also stated that because attention span is a problem, the use oftask variation with each task presented for only a few minutes wouldappear to meet the needs of students with autism better than a constanttask approach. However, Sherrill cautioned the resistance to change ismanifested by observance of rituals and emotional outbursts; thus,changing the task every 2 or 3 min may lead to emotional outbursts orhead-banging. In the current study, apart from one isolated instance onthe first day, this type of behavior was not observed. Finally, though the high improvement rates made by the taskvariation group may seem curious to some professionals, these rates areconsistent with the results of the only other known study dealing withtask variation in adapted physical education (Weber & Thorpe, 1989). IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING Several important implications for the teaching of students withautism in adapted physical education seem relevant. 1. The task variation method of teaching with maintenance tasksinterspersed appears to be a superior method when compared with theconstant task method. 2. The use of maintenance tasks interspersed with new tasks maylogically contribute to the students' retention of the skillspreviously learned. 3. Randomly interspersed tasks being changed every 2 or 3 minappears to be highly effective because of the limited attention span ofpeople with autism. 4. The use of teaching stations or a similar teaching techniquethat changes activities regularly would probably be effective with thispopulation. Given the hindrance hin��drance?n.1. a. The act of hindering.b. The condition of being hindered.2. One that hinders; an impediment. See Synonyms at obstacle. of the small number of subjects in this study,we urge a conservative approach in generalizing these results.Additional study is needed. As with most field studies, the results ofthis experiment must be integrated with care. REFERENCES Ammons, R. B. (1947). Acquisition of motor skill: II. Rotarypursuit performance with continuous practice before and after a singlerest. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 37, 393-410. Ammons, R. B. (1950). Acquisition of motor skill: III. Effects ofinitially distributed practice on rotary pursuit performance. Journalof Experimental Psychology, 40, 777-787. Arnheim, D. D., Auxter, D., & Crowe, W. C. (1969). Principlesand methods of adapted physical education. 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