Derived more-less relational mands in children diagnosed with autism.

Murphy et al. (2009) worked with children with autism.

They used match-to-sample lessons to link pictures, spoken words, and signs for "more" and "less."

After the kids matched correctly, the team tested if the children could ask for new items using the untrained signs.

Every child asked for "more" or "less" of new snacks without extra teaching.

When the links were flipped, the kids quickly switched their requests.

After a brief re-teach, the original asking came right back.

Murphy et al. (2010) repeated the idea with teens and five new mands.

Belisle et al. (2020) swapped snacks for abstract words like "bigger" and "faster."

Chastain et al. (2025) stretched the same logic into perspective-taking frames like "I" and "you."

All studies show kids with autism can derive new responses after equivalence training.

You can stop drilling every single request.

Teach a few equivalence relations and watch novel mands pop out.

Next session, try linking one new picture to "more" and test if the learner asks for an untrained item.

If it works, you just saved hours of direct training.