Numerous behavior analytic methods developed since the early 1960s have proved effective for developing a wide range of skills in learners with autism. Recent advances in stimulus control technology, in particular, offer effective methods for teaching many important skills and for promoting independent, generalized performances. This article reviews selected stimulus control techniques, including new methods for teaching conditional discrimination (matching) skills, stimulus equivalence procedures, prompt and prompt-fading techniques, and incidental teaching procedures.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Anderson, S.R., & Romanczyk, R.G. (1999). Early intervention for young children with autism: Continuum-based behavioral models. Journal of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps, 24, 162-173.
2.
Anderson, S.R., Taras, M., & Cannon, B. (1996). Teaching new skills to young children with autism . In C. Maurice, G. Green, & S. C. Luce (Eds.), Behavioral intervention for young children with autism: A manual for parents and professionals (pp. 181-194). Austin, TX: PRO-ED.
3.
Baer, D.M., Wolf, M.M., & Risley, T.R. (1968). Some current dimensions of applied behavior analysis . Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1, 91-97.
4.
Bainbridge, N., & Myles, B.S. (1999). The use of priming to introduce toilet training to a child with autism. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 14, 106-109.
5.
Bijou, S.W. (1996). Reflections on some early events related to behavior analysis of child development. TheBehavior Analyst, 19, 49-60.
6.
Buggey, T., Toombs, K., Gardener, P., & Cervetti, M. (1999). Training responding behaviors in students with autism: Using videotaped self modeling. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 4, 205-214.
7.
Carr, D., Wilkinson, K.M., Blackman, D., & McIlvane, W.J. (2000). Equivalence classes in individuals with minimal verbal repertoires. Journal of the Experimental Analysis ofBehavior, 74, 101-114.
8.
Charlop, M.H., & Milstein, J.P. (1989). Teaching autistic children conversational speech using video modeling. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 22, 275-285.
9.
Demchak, M. (1990). Response prompting and fading methods: A review. American journal onMental Retardation, 94, 603-615.
10.
Dube, W.V., & Serna, R.W. (1998). Re-evaluation of a programmed method to teach generalized identity matching to sample. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 19, 347-379.
11.
Eikeseth, S., & Smith, T. (1992). The development of functional and equivalence classes in high-functioning autistic children: The role of naming. Journal of the Experimental Analysis ofBehavior, 58, 123-133.
12.
Etzel, B.C., & LeBlanc, J.M. ( 1979). The simplest treatment alternative: The law of parsimony applied to choosing appropriate instructional control and errorless-learning procedures for the difficult-to-teach child. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 9, 361-382.
13.
Fenske, E.C., Krantz, P.J., & McClannahan, L.E. (in press). Incidental teaching: A not-discrete-trial teaching procedure. In C. Maurice, G. Green, & R M. Foxx (Eds.), Making a difference: Behavioral intervention for autism. Austin, TX: PRO-ED.
14.
Ferster, C.B., & DeMyer, M.K. (1961). The development of performances in autistic children in an automatically controlled environment. Journal of Chronic Diseases, 13, 312-345.
15.
Frost, L.A., & Bondy, A.S. (1994). The Picture Exchange Communication System training manual. Cherry Hill, NJ: Pyramid Educational Consultants.
16.
Green, G. ( 1992 ). Stimulus control technology for teaching number/quantity equivalences. Proceedings of the Conference of the National Association for Autism (Australia), pp. 51-63. Melbourne , Australia: Victorian Autistic Children's & Adults' Association.
17.
Green, G. (1996). Early behavioral intervention for autism: What does research tell us? In C. Maurice (Ed.), G. Green, & S. Luce (Co-Eds.), Behavioral intervention for young children with autism: A manual for parents and professionals (pp. 29-44). Austin, TX: PRO-ED.
18.
Green, G., & Saunders, R.R. (1998). Stimulus equivalence . In K. A. Lattal & M. Per-one (Eds.), Handbook of research methods in human operant behavior (pp. 229-262). New York: Plenum.
19.
Hall, L.J. (1997). Effective behavioural strategies for the defining characteristics of autism. Behavior Change, 14, 139-154.
20.
Haring, T.G., Kennedy, C.H., Adams, M.J., & Pitts-Conway, V. (1987). Teaching generalization of purchasing skills across community settings to autistic youth using videotape modeling. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 20, 89-96.
21.
Harrison, R.J., & Green, G. (1990). Development of conditional and equivalence relations without differential consequences. Journal of the Experimental Analysis ofBehavior, 54, 225-237.
22.
Hart, B., & Risley, T.R., (1968). Establishing use of descriptive adjectives in the spontaneous speech of disadvantaged preschool children. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1, 109-120.
23.
Hart, B., & Risley, T.R. (1982). How to use incidental teaching for elaborating language. Austin, TX: PRO-ED.
24.
Hart, B., & Risley, T.R. (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experience of young American children. Baltimore: Brookes.
25.
Heckamon, K.A.Alber, S., Hooper, S., & Heward, W.L. (1998). A comparison of least-to-most prompts and progressive time delay on the disruptive behavior of students with autism. Journal of Behavioral Education, 8, 171-201.
26.
Holberton, L., Taylor, B.A., & Levin, L. (1998, October). The use of a tactile prompt with a child with autism to increase play-related comments to peers. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the New York Association for Behavior Analysis, Saratoga, NY.
27.
Johnson, C., & Sidman, M. (1993). Conditional discrimination and equivalence relations: Control by negative stimuli. journal of the Experimental Analysis ofBehavior, 59, 333-347.
28.
Johnson, C., White, D., Green, G., Langer, S., & MacDonald, R. (2000, May). A discrimination and stimulus equivalence curriculum for individuals with severe learning difficulties. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Behavior Analysis, Washington, DC.
29.
Keenan, M., Kerr, K.P., & Dillenburger, K. (2000). Parents' education as autism therapists. London: Jessica Kingsley.
30.
Kelly, S., Green, G., & Sidman, M. (1998). Visual identity matching and auditory-visual matching: A procedural note. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 31, 237-243.
31.
Koegel, L.K. (1995). Communication and language intervention. In R. Koegel & L. Koegel (Eds.), Teaching children with autism (pp. 17-32). Baltimore: Brookes.
32.
Koegel, R.L., & Koegel, L.K. (1995). Teaching children with autism. Baltimore: Brookes.
33.
Koegel, R.L., O'Dell, M.C., & Koegel, L.K. (1987). A natural language paradigm for teaching non-verbal autistic children. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders . 17, 187-199.
34.
Krantz, P.J., Mac Duff, M.T., McClannahan, L.E. (1993). Programming participation in family activities for children with autism: Parents' use of photograhic activity schedules. Journal of Applied Bahavior Analysis, 26, 137-138.
35.
Krantz, P.J., & McClannahan, L.E. (1993). Teaching children with autism to initiate to peers: Effects of a script-fading procedure. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 26, 1121-132.
36.
Krantz, P.J., & McClannahan, L.E. (1998). Social interaction skills for children with autism: A script-fading procedure for beginning readers. Journal of Applied Behav- 1 iorAnalysis, 31, 191-202.
37.
Lovaas, O.L., Ackerman, A., Alexander, D., Firestone, P., Perkins, M., Young, D.B., Carr, E.G., & Newsom, C. (1981). Teaching developmentally disabled children: The ME book. Austin, TX: PRO-ED.
38.
Lovaas, O. I., & Smith, T. (1989). A comprehensive behavioral theory of autistic children: Paradigm for research and treatment. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 20, 17-29.
39.
MacDuff, G.S., Krantz, P.J., & McClannahan, L.E. (1993). Teaching children with autism to use photographic activity schedules: Maintenance and generalization of complex response chains. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis , 26, 89-95.
40.
MacDuff, G.S., Krantz, P.J., & McClannahan, L.E. (in press). Prompts and prompt-fading strategies for people with autism. In C. Maurice, G. Green, & R M. Foxx (Eds.), Making a difference: Behavioral intervention for autism. Austin, TX: PRO-ED.
41.
Matson, J.L., Benavidez, D.A., Compton, L.S., Paclawskyj, T., & Baglio, C. (1996). Behavioral treatment of autistic persons: A review of research from 1980 to the present. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 17, 433-465.
42.
McClannahan, L.E., & Krantz, P.J. (1999). Activity schedules for children with autism: Teaching independent behavior. Bethesda, MD: Woodbine House.
43.
McGee, G.G., Kranz, P.J., Mason, D., & McClannahan, L.E. (1983). A modified incidental-teaching procedure for autistic youth: Acquisition and generalization of receptive object labels. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 16, 329-338.
44.
McGee, G.G., Morrier, M.J., & Daly, T. (1999). An incidental teaching approach to early intervention for toddlers with autism. Journal of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps, 24, 133-146.
45.
Mcllvane,W.J., Dube, W.V., Green, G., & Serna, R.W. (1993). Programming conceptual and communication skill development: A methodological stimulus class analysis. In A. P. Kaiser & D. B. Gray (Eds.), Enhancing children's communication (Vol. 2, pp. 242-285). Baltimore: Brookes.
46.
Mcllvane, W.J., & Stoddard, L.T. ( 1981 ). Acquisition of matching-to-sample performances in severe retardation: Learning by exclusion. Journal of Mental Deficiency Research, 25, 33-48.
47.
MvIlvane, W.J., & Stoddard, L.T. (1985). Complex stimulus relations and exclusion in mental retardation. Analysis and Intervention in Developmental Disabilities, 5, 307-321.
48.
Oppenheimer, M., Saunders, R.R., & Spradlin, J.E. (1993). Investigating the generality of the delayed-prompt effect. Research in Developmental Disabilities , 14, 425-444.
49.
Prizant, B.M., & Rubin, E. (1999). Contemporary issues in interventions for autism spectrum disorders: A commentary. journal of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps, 24, 199-208.
50.
Prizant, B.M., & Wetherby, A. (1998). Understanding the continuum of discrete-trial traditional behavioral to social-pragmatic developmental approaches in communication enhancement for young children with autism/PDD. Seminars in Speech and Language, 19, 329-353.
51.
Remington, B. (1994). Augmentative and alternative communication and behavior analysis: A productive partnership?Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 10, 3-13.
52.
Romanczyk, R.G. (1996). Behavioral analysis and assessment: The cornerstone to ef fectiveness. In C. Maurice, G. Green, & S. C. Luce (Eds.), Behavioral intervention for young children with autism: A manual for parents and professionals (pp. 195-217). Austin, TX: PRO-ED.
53.
Saunders, K.J., & Spradlin, J.E. (1989). Conditional discrimination in mentally retarded adults: The effects of training the component simple discriminations. journal of the Experimental Analysis ofBehavior, 52, 1-12.
54.
Saunders, K.J., & Spradlin, J.E. (1993).Conditional discrimination in mentally retarded subjects: Programming acquisition and learning set. Journal of the Experimental Analysis ofBehavior, 60, 571-585.
55.
Saunders, R.R., & Green, G. (1999). A discrimination analysis of training structure effects on stimulus equivalence outcomes. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 72, 117-137.
56.
Schopler, E., Mesibov, G.B., & Hearsey, K. (1995). Structured teaching in the TEACCH system. In E. Schopler & G. Mesibov (Eds.), Learning and cognition in autism (pp. 243-268). New York: Plenum Press.
57.
Schreibman, L. (1988). Autism. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
58.
Schreibman, L., Whalen, C., & Stahmer, A.C. (2000). The use of video priming to reduce disruptive transition behavior in children with autism. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 2, 3-11.
59.
Serna, R.W., Dube, W.V., & Mcllvane, W.J. (1997). Assessing same/different judgments in individuals with severe intellectual disabilities: A status report . Research in Developmental Disabilities, 18, 343-368.
60.
Sidman, M. ( 1971 ). Reading and auditory-visual equivalences. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 14, 5-13.
61.
Sidman, M. (1986). Functional analysis of emergent verbal classes . In T. Thompson & M. D. Zeiler (Eds.), Analysis and integration of behavioral units (pp. 213-245). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
62.
Sidman, M. (1994). Equivalence relations and behavior: A research story. Boston: Authors Cooperative.
63.
Sidman, M., Rauzin, R., Lazar, R., Cunningham, S., Tailby, W., & Carrigan, P. (1982). A search for symmetry in the conditional discriminations of rhesus monkeys, baboons, and children. Journal of the Experimental Analysis ofBehavior, 37, 23-44.
64.
Sidman, M., & Stoddard, L.T. (1967). The ef fectiveness of fading in programming a simultaneous form discrimination for retarded children. Journal of the Experimental Analysis ofBehavior, 10, 3-15.
65.
Sidman, M., & Tailby, W. (1982). Conditional discrimination vs. matching to sample: An expansion of the testing paradigm. Journal of the Experimental Analysis ofBehavior, 37, 5-22.
66.
Skinner, B.F. (1938). The behavior of organisms: An experimental analysis . New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts .
67.
Skinner, B.F. (1953). Science and human behavior. New York: Macmillan.
68.
Stevenson, C.L., Krantz, P.J., & McClannahan, L.E. (2000). Social interaction skills for children with autism: A script-fading procedure for nonreaders. Behavioral Interventions, 15, 1-20.
69.
Stromer, R., Mackay, H.A., & Stoddard, L.T. (1992). Classroom applications of stimulus equivalence technology. Journal of BehavioralEducation, 2, 225-256.
70.
Stromer, R., & Osborne, J.G. (1982). Control of adolescents' arbitrary matching-to-sample by positive and negative stimulus relations. Journal of the Experimental Analysis ofBehavior, 37, 329-348.
71.
Sundberg, M.L., Partington, J.W. (1998). Teaching language to children with autism or other developmental disabilities. Danville, CA: Behavior Analysts.
72.
Sundberg, M.L., & Partington, J.W. (1999). The need for both discrete trial and natural environment language training for children with autism. In P. M. Ghezzi, W. L. Williams, & J. Carr (Eds.), Autism: Behavior analytic perspectives (pp. 139-156). Reno, NV: Context Press.
73.
Taber, T.A., Seltzer, A., Heflin, L.J., & Alberto, P.A. (1999). Use of self-operated auditory prompts to decrease off-task behavior for a student with autism and moderate mental retardation . Focus on Autism and Other DeveGopmental Disabilities, 14, 159-166.
74.
Taylor, B. (in press). Teaching peer social skills to children with autism. In C. Maurice, G. Green, & R. M. Foxx (Eds.), Making a difference: Behavioral intervention for autism. Austin, TX: PRO-ED.
75.
Taylor, B.A., & Levin, L. (1998). Teaching a student with autism to make verbal initiations: Effects of a "tactile prompt." journal of AppliedBehavior Analysis, 31, 651-654.
76.
Terrace, H.S. (1963). Discrimination learning with and without errors. Journal of the Experimental Analysis ofBehavior, 6, 1-27.
77.
Wetherby, A.M., Schuler, A.L., & Prizant, B.M. (1997). Enhancing language and communication development: Theoretical foundations. In D. J. Cohen & F. R Volkmar (Eds.), Handbook of autism and pervasive developmental disorders (2nd ed., pp. 513-538). New York: Wiley .
78.
Wilde L., Koegel, L., & Koegel, R. (1992). Increasing success in the school through priming: A training manual. Santa Barbara: University of California.
79.
Wolf, M.M. (1999, August). Division 25 Applied Research Award presentation . Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Boston.
80.
Wolf, M.M., Risley, T.R., Johnston, M.K., Harris, F.R., & Allen, K.E. (1967). Application of operant conditioning procedures to the behavior problems of an autistic child: A follow up and extension. Behaviour Research and7-herapy, 5, 103-111.
81.
Wolf, M.M., Risley, T.R., & Mees, H. (1964). Application of operant conditioning procedures to the behavior problems of an autistic child. Behavior Research and Therapy, 1, 305-312.
82.
Zanolli, K., Daggett, J., & Adams, T. (1996). Teaching preschool age autistic children to make spontaneous initiations to peers using priming. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 26, 407-421.
83.
Zygmont, D.M., Lazar, R.M., Dube, W.V., & Mcllvane, W.J. (1992). Teaching arbitrary matching via sample stimulus control shaping to young children and mentally retarded individuals: A methodological note. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 57, 109-117.