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5th annual Undergraduate Research Symposium, April 17, 2025

Lydia Wilkinson she/her

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BIO

Lydia Wilkinson is a second year graduate student at Florida State University and a clinician with the Early Childhood Autism Program. Her academic and clinical interests focus on communication behaviors, early language development, and prevention-oriented interventions for children with autism. Her current research examines the use of functional analysis methodology to inform spontaneous mand training.

A Functional Analysis of Communication Behaviors

Authors: Lydia Wilkinson, Leah Koehler
Student Major: Applied Behavior Analysis
Mentor: Leah Koehler
Mentor's Department: Psychology
Mentor's College: Florida State University
Co-Presenters:

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to replicate and extend functional analysis procedures described by Plavnick and Ferreri (2013) to examine multiple topographies of communication and the motivating operations under which they occur in young children with autism spectrum disorder. One child aged 2–6 years with a limited vocal repertoire and established nonverbal communication will participate. A paired-stimulus preference assessment will identify preferred stimuli for experimental conditions. Using a multielement design, communication responses will be assessed across play (control), attention, tangible, and demand conditions to identify differential responding associated with specific environmental contingencies. Dependent variables will include the frequency or latency of gestural communication topographies identified through indirect assessment and pilot probes. A secondary purpose is to evaluate the correspondence between indirect assessment outcomes and directly observed communication behaviors. Results indicated that two of the three target behaviors occurred most frequently during the tangible condition; the third behavior (vocalizations) occurred across all conditions. These results indicate that the participant's nonvocal communication behavior is maintained by access to tangibles. This study contributes to prevention-oriented assessment practices in applied behavior analysis and early communication intervention.

Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Communication, Manding, Functional Analysis