Stimulus equivalence and transfer of function: Teaching categorization skills to children

Abstract

Equivalence‐based instruction (EBI) and transfer of function are effective with neurotypical adults and children; however, only one study to date evaluated their effectiveness with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We used EBI to teach three preschool children with ASD to form three age‐appropriate classes (categories) consisting of three stimuli each. We directly taught two relations between stimuli in each class (e.g., firefighter‐doctor; doctor‐teacher), and the remaining relations between the stimuli (e.g., doctor‐firefighter, teacher‐doctor, doctor‐teacher, teacher‐doctor) emerged. Then, we taught participants to respond as listeners when asked about the function of a stimulus in each category (e.g., point to a state when asked, “Point to a place where people live”). As a result, the respective function transferred among the other stimuli in each category. This study supports the effectiveness of EBI and transfer of function with children with ASD learning age‐appropriate skills in an applied setting.