O USO DE COMUNICAÇÃO ALTERNATIVA E AUMENTATIVA PARA PESSOAS DIAGNOSTICADAS COM O TRANSTORNO DO ESPECTRO DO AUTISMO: CARACTERIZAÇÃO DA PRODUÇÃO ANALÍTICO-COMPORTAMENTAL COM FOCO NA LÍNGUA DE SINAIS E PECS

Abstract

Verbal behavior has been presented as a relevant subject in several studies of behavior analysis, especially research on teaching verbal operants to autistic individuals. For the teaching of verbal skills, various methods and techniques of alternative and augmentative communication – AAC are used. Alternative communication methods by sign language and picture exchange systems appear as widely used systems and have low implementation and maintenance costs. The objective of the present work was to identify empirical research in Behavior Analysis that deal with the teaching of verbal skills, for autistic people with limited verbal repertoire, using PECS or sign language. The method used was a search in the PubMed database, for empirical research in Behavior Analysis that deal with the teaching of verbal skills, for people diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder with limited verbal repertoire, using PECS or sign language. The search returned 83 articles on PECS and 98 articles on sign language. After applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 15 articles from PECS and 19 were selected. The analysis showed differences between the two models regarding the age range of the public and the verbal operants taught. It was also verified that studies in sign language presented a greater variation of procedures compared to PECS. Finally, it was noted that both methods were effective for teaching verbal skills to autistic people.