Equivalence relations, the assessment of basic learning abilities and language: A synthesis of behavioral research and its implications for children with autism.

Abstract

Abstract Assessment and intervention in Autism and related disorders has become a major application area for the field of Behavior Analysis. However, basic behavioral research and research in other applied areas have recently provided new insights into the nature of language and other complex human behavior that although directly relevant to autism may not be widely known due to the volume of currently available literatures. This paper provides a review and synthesis of recent research on conditional discrimination processes and relational responding in humans, research on a possible hierarchy of discriminations as described by the literature on the Assessment of Basic Learning Abilities (ABLA), and the implications of this research for language acquisition in person with autism and related disabilities. Keywords: Conditional discrimination, Equivalence, Relational Frame Theory, Language, Autism. ********** A common challenge in most clinical and research endeavors is the problem of gaining an awareness and synthesis of the available literature. The recent past and current applications of Behavior Analysis in the area of Autism Spectrum Disorder have gained significant attention from clinicians and researchers alike. Typically however, most publications and professional presentations are limited to specific assessments, analyses or interventions that contribute or advance specific clinical or research knowledge. The purpose of the present article is to provide the reader with an overview of relevant developments in three areas of research and clinical activity that have relevance to behavioral analytical progress in the area of Autism. These areas, are equivalent relations, conditional discrimination processes from the perspective of the literature concerning the Assessment of Basic Learning Abilities (ABLA), and assessment and intervention for language acquisition in persons with Autism and related syndromes. It is hoped that this review will stimulate clinical and research discussion and activity that may not have been otherwise undertaken without an awareness of the three chosen knowledge areas. Sidman (1971) described the phenomenon of Stimulus Equivalence. Since then he and many other investigators have researched a variety of characteristics of this phenomenon. One of the most widely debated topics in the Stimulus Equivalence literature involves the nature of the relations that form and the involvement or necessity of language (Horne & Lowe, 1996; Sidman, 1994, 2000). In general, studies show that verbally able subjects successfully demonstrate equivalence relations, whereas subjects who lack basic language abilities have typically not shown such emergent relations (e.g. Devany, Hayes & Nelson, 1986). These findings have led some researchers to conclude that language is necessary for the formation of such equivalence classes. Some theorize that language is a mediating variable in a process in which an equivalence relation is the outcome (e.g. Horne & Lowe, 1996). Others state that the formation of equivalence relations requires no such mediation and that the formation of these classes plays a role in the development of language (Sidman, 1994), (see Fields & Nevin, 1993; Hayes, 1989; Horne & Lowe, 1996, 1997; and Sidman 1994 for reviews of this literature from differing viewpoints). Sidman (1994), suggested that Such subjects [who cannot name stimuli] may well be limited in more ways than just their inability to name stimuli; they may also suffer other deficits that are incompatible with equivalence relations. p.306. The Assessment of Basic Learning Abilities (ABLA) (Martin, Yu & Vause, 2004) may point to some of those deficits. The ABLA purports to measure, among other things, the ability of individuals to make conditional discriminations and the relative ease with which they can learn new discriminations. The use of conditional discrimination abilities and procedures is fundamental to the equivalence literature, (e. …