A STUDY ON THE PERCEPTIONS AND PRACTICES OF GENDER EQUALITY AND GENDER STEREOTYPES AMONG KINDERGARTEN TEACHERS IN MACAO

ABSTRACT

THE INCIDENCE OF SELF-INJURIOUS BEHAVIOR (SIB) IN CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER (ASD) RANGES FROM 35% TO 60%. COMMON TYPES OF SIB INCLUDE HEAD-BANGING, HAIR-PULLING, ARM-BITING, EYE-POKING, SKIN-SCRATCHING AND OTHER BEHAVIORS. FUNCTIONAL BEHAVIOR ASSESSMENT (FBA) AND FUNCTION-BASED BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTIONS HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO REDUCE SIB IN CHILDREN WITH ASD. HOWEVER, THERE IS LIMITED RESEARCH ON THIS SUBJECT IN MACAO. THIS STUDY APPLIES A SINGLE-SUBJECT ALTERNATING TREATMENT DESIGN TO CONDUCT AN FBA ON THE SELF-INJURIOUS BEHAVIOR OF A CHILD WITH ASD IN MACAO, FOLLOWED BY THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A FUNCTION-BASED BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTION, AIMING TO EFFECTIVELY REDUCE THE FREQUENCY OR INTENSITY OF SIB IN CHILDREN WITH ASD. BASED ON THE RESULTS OF THIS STUDY, THE CONCLUSIONS ARE AS FOLLOWS: A) BASED ON THE FUNCTIONAL BEHAVIOR ASSESSMENT, THE MAIN FUNCTIONS OF SELF-INJURIOUS BEHAVIOR IN THE CHILD WITH ASD ARE IDENTIFIED AS ESCAPE FROM TASK DEMANDS AND ACCESS TO TANGIBLE ITEMS; B) FUNCTION-BASED INTERVENTION STRATEGIES (SUCH AS FUNCTIONAL COMMUNICATION TRAINING, FCT) SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCE THE OCCURRENCE OF SIB IN CHILDREN WITH ASD. IN THIS CASE STUDY, THE FREQUENCY OF SIB MARKEDLY DECREASED, AND THE IMPROVEMENT WAS MAINTAINED EVEN AFTER THE INTERVENTION WAS WITHDRAWN; C) BASED ON THE RESULTS OF FCT, BOTH INDEPENDENT COMMUNICATION BEHAVIORS (PICTURE CARDS AND THE SPEECH-GENERATING DEVICE BIGMAC) EFFECTIVELY REDUCED THE CHILD’S SIB. HOWEVER, THE CHILD LEARNED TO USE THE BIGMAC AS AN ALTERNATIVE COMMUNICATION BEHAVIOR MORE QUICKLY, AND THERE WAS NO OCCURRENCE OF SELF-INJURIOUS BEHAVIOR WHILE USING BIGMAC, WHEREAS SIB OCCASIONALLY OCCURRED WHEN USING PICTURE CARDS; D) FUNCTION-BASED INTERVENTION STRATEGIES DEMONSTRATE A GOOD SOCIAL VALIDITY, WITH THE CHILD’S TEACHERS EXPRESSING AGREEMENT WITH THE RESEARCH’S IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS AND OUTCOMES. 自閉症譜系障礙（AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER，ASD）兒童自傷行為的發生率高達35%-60%，常見的類型包括撞頭、拉頭髮、咬手臂、戳眼睛及抓皮膚等。功能行為評估和基於功能的行為干預有助於降低自閉症兒童的自傷行為，然而，澳門相關的研究較少。本研究採用單一被試交替處理設計對1名澳門自閉症兒童的自傷行為開展功能行為評估，並制定相應的基於功能的行為干預。研究結果顯示：A) 基於功能行為評估，可以確定該自閉症兒童自傷行為的主要功能為逃避任務及獲得實物；B) 採用基於行為功能的干預策略（即功能性溝通訓練），可以有效降低該自閉症兒童自傷行為的頻率，且在撤銷干預後仍能維持改善效果；C) 根據功能性溝通訓練的結果，學習兩種獨立溝通行為（圖卡和言語生成設備BIGMAC）均有助於減少該兒童的自傷行為，但相對而言，他更快學會使用BIGMAC這個替代溝通行為，而且在使用BIGMAC的實驗時段中完全沒有出現自傷行為，而使用圖卡時會出現自傷行為；D) 基於行為功能的干預策略具有良好的社會效度，該自閉症兒童的教師對研究的實施過程及成效表示認同。