Three children with neurosensory deafness who used cochlear implants were taught to match video clips to dictated sentences. We used matrix training with overlapping components and tested for recombinative generalization. Two 3?×?3 matrices generated 18 sentences. For each matrix, we taught 6 sentences and evaluated generalization with the…

Some students with intellectual disabilities require explicit instruction of language skills, including preposition use; however, little is known about effective ways to teach preposition use to this population. This study examined direct instruction (DI) to teach students to use and respond to prepositions. Results indicated that DI was an…

Matrix training is a generative approach to instruction in which words are arranged in a matrix so that some multiword phrases are taught and others emerge without direct teaching. We taught 4 preschoolers with autism to follow instructions to perform action-picture combinations (e.g., circle the pepper, underline the deer). Each matrix contained…

A modified incidental-teaching procedure was used to increase the receptive language skills of two autistic youths with previous institutionalization. Percentage of correct, unprompted object identifications increased when the incidental-teaching package (gestural prompts, behavior-specific praise, and contingent access to lunch-making supplies)…

Six autistic children were trained to use their sign repertoire to make spontaneous requests of adults. Training consisted of imitative prompting, fading, and differential reinforcement, with aspects of incidental teaching. Ss displayed increased rate and variety of spontaneous sign requests and generalization of spontaneity across different…

Three language-delayed autistic children (6-11 years old) were taught expressive use of prepositions to describe the location of preferred edibles and toys. Traditional highly structured training and incidental teaching procedures were used in a classroom setting, and generalization was assessed during free-play sessions. Results clearly indicated…

Two experiments, with about five autistic children (two to 14 years old) in each experiment, assessed the effects of autistic immediate echolalia on acquisition and generalization of receptive labeling tasks. These results indicated that echolalia faciliated generalization for echolalic autistic children but not for functionally mute autistic…

Results showed that "loose training" (conducting concurrent language training during an academic task and allowing the student to initiate a language response based on a wide array of naturaly occurring stimulus events) was effective in establishing a specific set of language responses in two moderately retarded 10 and 12 year olds. (Author/CL)

The study compared training in two language systems for three severely handicapped, cerebral palsied, nonvocal adolescents: the Bliss symbol system and an iconic picture system. Results showed that students learned iconic symbols faster, maintained higher percentage of iconic pictures, gave more correct responses during generalization probes for…

Picture cards, photographs, and real objects were compared as training stimuli in order to determine which best facilitated the generalization of naming responses learned in a special training room to real objects in the natural environments of four severely retarded children (ages 5, 6, 9, and 14). (Author)

The effects of expressive modeling experiences on the observational learning of generative language by children with severe mental retardation was investigated. All six children (aged six-nine) demonstrated observational learning of responses modeled by their peers. Organizing the modeling experiences according to matrix-training principles…

Three mentally handicapped students (aged 13, 36, and 40) with maladaptive speech received training to answer questions with verbal labels. The results of their cues-pause-point training showed that the students replaced their maladaptive speech with correct labels (answers) to questions in the training setting and three generalization settings.…

This review of research discusses how children with autism may acquire equivalence classes after learning to supply a common oral name to each stimulus in a potential class. A proposed methodology for researching referent naming and class formation, analysis of stimulus classes, and generalization is offered. (CR)

A time delay procedure was used to teach three children (ages 5-9) with autism to ask the question "What's that?" when novel stimuli were presented, and generalization of the skill was assessed. Results suggest that children with autism can be taught to ask questions that lead to acquisition of new information. (Author/DB)