Evaluation of Instructive Feedback as a Strategy for Generalizing Tacts Across Primary and Secondary Languages
Instructive feedback can give you bilingual tact generalization for free; if it doesn’t, a short rehearsal plus no-no prompt finishes the job.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Four preschoolers with autism learned new object names in English. During each trial the teacher slipped in the Spanish name as an extra comment—this is instructive feedback.
The team tracked whether the kids later said the Spanish name without being asked. If that did not happen after a few sessions, the teacher added two quick fixes: a brief choral rehearsal and a no-no prompt if the child hesitated.
What they found
Two children started using the Spanish names right away. The other two needed the extra rehearsal and prompt package before their Spanish tacts showed up.
Once the package was in place, all four kids reached mastery and kept the names two weeks later.
How this fits with other research
Grow et al. (2017) used the same instructive-feedback trick during tact training and saw brand-new play behaviors pop up. Erhard’s team now shows the tactic can also jump languages, giving the procedure a second win.
Vladescu et al. (2021) found that small stimulus sets speed tact learning. Erhard kept sets tiny too, so the quick gains line up.
Cordeiro et al. (2022) cut mastery time by switching from set-level to target-level criteria. Erhard used target-level mastery and added brief rehearsals when needed—another way to keep sessions short.
Why it matters
If you run DTT with bilingual families, slip the second-language name into the trial as a free extra. Watch the data: if the child does not use the new name within three sessions, add a quick chorus repeat and a gentle no-no prompt. You may gain a second language without extra teaching time.
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Join Free →Add the second-language name as an off-hand comment during tact trials and graph whether the child uses it; if not seen after three sessions, insert a quick choral repeat and a no-no prompt.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Research has shown that instructive feedback (IF) facilitates the generalization of tacts in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, no study to date has examined the effects of IF on the emergence of tacts across primary and secondary languages with both trained and non-trained exemplars. This study evaluated the efficacy of IF in promoting the generalization of tacts across languages using a nonconcurrent multiple baseline design with four participants with ASD from Spanish-speaking families. The results demonstrated that IF was effective at producing generalization across novel stimuli exemplars in primary and secondary targets for two of the four participants. Additional training components (i.e., rehearsals and no-no prompts) were effective in producing the same generalization outcomes with the remaining two participants.
Behavior Modification, 2025 · doi:10.1177/01454455251364284