A popular misconception about behavioral interventions for autism is that discrete trial training turns children into robots.' Critics contend that children taught using applied behavioral analysis (ABA) respond and if verbal, speak, in measured and mechanical ways. Surely, the notion of using a computer program to implement discrete trial instruction would only make children more robotic,' these critics would say. Well, perhaps. But the advantages offered from using computer technology to deliver some portion of an ABA program to children with autism are so varied that any such software should be given close scrutiny. If a computer based instrument could capture all the relevant aspects of an ABA intervention (e.g. prompting, reinforcement, curriculum adjustments, data collection), then the beneยฎts of reduced personnel cost, increased training time for the learner, and immediate data collection would be invaluable.
Much of this has been accomplished in the Discrete Trial Trainer (DT Trainer), a new release from Accelerations Educational Software (AES). Karl Smith, the parent of a child with autism, developed the software. Like many parents of a child diagnosed with autism, Smith and his wife frantically searched for answers and interventions. Deciding to implement a home-based, early intensive intervention program, the Smith's encountered the typical obstacles: problems such as their son's social avoidance of people, including teachers; what to do with their son during the down-time' when he was not engaged in therapeutic one-on-one activities; high staff turnover leading to holes' in the therapy schedule; and the need for highly salient, constantly changing positive reinforcement.
Smith's DT Trainer was designed, in part, to provide solutions to these problems. The program is able to serve multiple students, not just one, which promotes its usability in a classroom setting. It is highly ยฏexible and can be customized to meet many students' varied learning styles and skill deยฎcits. A trial looks very similar to