Unidirectional Speaker Naming in Toddlers: Effects of Multiple Exemplar Instruction Teaching

Abstract

Toddlers (children aged 1 to 3 years) may have difficulties responding as a speaker to objects/events for which they have been taught to respond as a listener. This study aimed to perform a methodologically robust evaluation of the effectiveness of a Multiple Exemplar Instruction teaching (MEI) consisting only of listener (auditory-visual matching-to-sample) and speaker tasks (intraverbal tact), in inducing Unidirectional Speaker Naming in toddlers with typical development. Thus, three toddlers aged between 28 and 29 months were exposed to: listener and speaker pre-tests with auditory stimuli and two-dimensional visual stimuli; listener teaching; listener and speaker post-test 1; MEI; and listener and speaker post-test 2. In post-test 2, one toddler showed emergence of Unidirectional Speaker Naming. The findings of this study may help to refine language teaching procedures for toddlers.