Acquisition of Matching-to-Sample by Children With Autistic Disorders : Differential Response Procedures With Sample and Comparison Stimuli

Abstract

In the present study, differential response procedures were used with sample and comparison stimuli in an attempt to facilitate acquisition of matching-to-sample tasks in 2 elementary school pupils with autistic disorders. In Study 1, in which differential response procedures were used, one of the students was taught matching to sample with pictures and printed words as stimuli. The results showed that differential responses to the comparison stimuli facilitated the student's matching performance. In contrast, when differential response procedures were used with the samples, facilitative effects were not found. In Study 2, in which differential response procedures were also used, the other pupil was taught category matching-to-sample tasks. The pupil acquired category matching only when the differential response procedure was used with both samples and comparisons. The results of both studies relate to the emergence of 2-component discriminations in matching-to-sample, that is, a successive discrimination between samples, and a simultaneous discrimination between comparisons. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)