Abstract
Improving the implementation of a procedure for the correction of vocal topographies. This study presents the increase in correcting vocal topographies when systematic shaping procedures are used compared with the use of asystematic implementation of the variables defining the shaping procedure. After measuring during several sessions the variables involved in the educator's behavior regarding shaping vocal topographies, different values of these variables were changed to attain different objectives. The first objective was to facilitate the teacher's auditive discrimination between the different vocal responses (approximations to the terminal sound). Trials of correct vocal responses were mixed with trials with the training sounds. In addition, observers were used to help the teacher to identify the correct approximations to be reinforced. The second objective was to increase the child's motivation to the task. The maximum number of correlative trials of the training sound was limited; changes in activity were introduced; and the positive consequences contingent to correct vocal approximations were increased. Three subjects with different levels of retarded behavior participated in the study using two vocal responses each, as targets to isolate the general effect of the combination of the variables indicated. The following phases were implemented: A brief baseline followed by the normal training procedures regarding the two sounds, followed by the change in the variables indicated with regard to both sounds simultaneously (subject 3) or consecutively (subjects 1 and 2). The changes introduced during the shaping procedure produced an increase in the correct vocal responses in all subjects. These improvements occurred parallel to the reduction in disagreements between teacher's and observer's criteria.
