The effects of tact training on the emergence of categorization and listener behavior in children with autism

Abstract

We evaluated the effects of tact training on the emergence of categorization and listener behavior using a nonconcurrent multiple baseline design across 2 children with autism. Participants learned to tact the category name of 9 pictures that belonged to 3 different categories. We assessed whether participants accurately matched pictures by category and selected the correct comparisons when hearing their category names. After training, participants categorized and emitted listener behavior. One participant did not categorize until asked to tact the samples. These results suggest that tact training may be an efficient way to produce listener and categorization in children diagnosed with autism.