The effects of listener training on discriminative control by elements of compound stimuli in children with disabilities.

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to assess whether the establishment of listener relations with compound stimuli as samples and comparisons would lead to the emergence of: (1) speaker behavior in the form of tacts of the compound stimuli; (2) listener and tact responses for untaught compounds; and (3) listener and tact responses for the isolated properties of compounds. Participants were four boys diagnosed with autism and one diagnosed with intellectual disability. We taught participants to select among three compound comparisons consisting of combinations of shapes and patterns in the presence of the corresponding dictated word. Subsequently, we tested for the emergence of tacts for the trained compounds, as well as tact and listener relations for six untaught compounds and their properties. In general, results showed that the acquisition of listener relations led to the emergence of the corresponding tacts, as well as the emergence of listener and tact responses for untaught combinations for three out of five participants. By contrast, the other two participants showed responding characteristic of restricted stimulus control. These results suggest that the establishment of bidirectional relations between listener and speaker behaviors may facilitate the emergence of control by properties of compound stimuli.