TARPA Research

Updates from Siri RSS Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

• 

  Siri 2:27 pm on February 8, 2010 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: rft (3), TARPA (3)   

  New TARPA Version! 

  After a bit of user-testing with my friendly neighborhood subject pool, we’ve come up with a much improved training protocol for the Transformation of Function stages, as reflected in the newest version of the TARPA on the Downloads page. All the info is in the latest manual, also posted to the Downloads page.

  We’ve also made the decision to reformat the sequence of testing (not the structure of the TARPA, but the order in which testing proceeds). This new sequence is reflected in the new manual and new tracking form on, you guessed it, the Downloads page.

  Also, as I wrote before, we’ve been talking about the need for a quick version of the TARPA. Well, we are now going to be testing a couple different short versions, and I have posted tracking forms for a super-quick version as well on the downloads page. It’ll be interesting to see what the data tell us!

   

  Reply Click here to cancel reply.

  Name (required)

  Email (required)

  Web Site

   
• 

  Siri 2:24 pm on January 9, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

  More thoughts on fast-tracking and quick versions 

  Ian and I recently discussed the need for a “quick” version of the TARPA, and had the idea that one option for us to consider would be to just run 2-comparison visual all the way through. In the current full version, we could take a look at what single strands like that might correlate well with overall performance. But it might also be interesting in the current pilot tests to just get a sense of how that type of version might run and how quick it would actually go, by doing it with a couple typically developing kids. This might also give us a sense of whether it is ultimately better/more user/subject-friendly to run the test in tracks like that vs. all modalities at once. I may try this with my own little test subject…

   
• 

  Siri 9:29 am on January 8, 2010 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: rft (3), TARPA (3), typical language development   

  TARPA Research Begins! 

  I am very excited that the TARPA research pilot projects are starting, with the fabulous crew at Chrysalis working with their kids at home and starting the project at school. I’ve been testing a few typical kids as well (whoever’s parents will let me experiment on their children, lol, which means relatives and neighbors and of course my own often-recalcitrant test subject here at home).

  As I’ve been working with typical kids fairly far above the range this level of the TARPA was originally designed to be testing, a few things have occurred to me as I go through the protocol. First of all, subsequent versions of the TARPA might do well to include some fast-tracking options/opportunities. This could be based on the number of errors made (e.g. one or less) prior to reaching the passing criterion during the first time the participant is trained on conditional discriminations for particular stimuli. We could then perhaps significantly reduce the criteria for passing subsequent re-training and maintenance sections, possibly even skipping retraining at the discretion of the administrator of the test.

  It’s also been quite interesting to see the dramatic difference between a few younger and older kids on their abilities to do 2-comparison vs 3-comparison discriminations and derivations. This wasn’t something we had necessarily anticipated, and it will be very interesting to see the results come in with more kids of all ages and with/without autism. I wonder exactly what this difference in performance is picking up in terms of language skills vs attentional abilities, etc.