Use of a visual stimulus fading procedure to teach color naming to an autistic child

Abstract

An eight-year-old autistic boy was taught color naming skills using a visual stimulus fading procedure. During a pretest assessment, he was unable to name any of five colored blocks correctly. Training consisted of teaching the child to sight read the name of each color which was superimposed over a card of the respective color. In a series of graduated steps, the color word was then faded out until independent naming was achieved. Discrimination training was accomplished by systematically introducing each color until all five colors could be named on random presentation. During post-test assessments conducted one day, ten days, and seven months after the termination of training, correct responding was maintained and generalization of color naming observed.