Evaluation of the efficiency of listener and tact instruction for children with autism.
Teaching a child to name a picture first can sometimes create the listener response for free, but check each learner because the pattern varies.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team worked with four children with autism. They compared two ways to teach early language.
One way was listener training: the child hears a word and points to the correct picture. The other way was tact training: the child sees a picture and says the word.
Each child got both kinds of lessons. The teachers counted how many trials each child needed to learn and watched to see if the opposite skill popped up without extra teaching.
What they found
Tact training was usually faster. Some kids learned the listener response right after they learned to name the picture.
But the pattern was not the same for every child. One child learned listener skills faster, and the rest showed mixed or equal speed.
The big point: naming things can sometimes create understanding without extra lessons, but results vary.
How this fits with other research
Cortez et al. (2020) saw the same edge for tact training in typically developing preschoolers learning foreign words. Their data line up with H et al.—tacts first can spark listener skills.
May et al. (2016) stretched the idea further. They showed that teaching listener and intraverbal responses in a second language later produced both untaught tacts and listener skills. This supports the core finding: teach one verbal operant and watch for the other to appear.
Gavidia et al. (2022) used listener trials plus extra instructive feedback and still got mixed emergent tact gains. Their mixed outcome matches H et al.’s mixed pattern, reminding us that emergence is not guaranteed for every child or stimulus set.
Why it matters
You can save time by probing the opposite skill right after the first one is mastered. If the child can now name “apple,” quickly test if they can point to apple when you say it. If they can, move on; if not, add a few listener trials. This probe-first habit can cut total teaching time and keep sessions moving. Track each learner—some kids will surprise you and show the reverse skill right away, while others will need both sets of trials.
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Join Free →After a child masters a new tact, immediately probe the listener response—if they point to the correct picture when you say the word, you can skip direct listener trials for that item.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Recent literature reviews have highlighted the need to better understand the relation between speaker and listener behavior when teaching learners with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The current study used a modified parallel-treatments design to compare directly the degree to which tact and listener behavior emerged during instruction in the opposite relation for 4 children with ASD. Results showed tact training to be either equally or more efficient than listener training for all participants. However, varied patterns of emergent responding across participants indicate a need for further research. Data on collateral responding during instruction did not suggest that the presence or absence of overt collateral behaviors were predictive of emergence. The results highlight the importance for clinicians and educators to assess emergent tact and listener repertoires periodically.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 2014 · doi:10.1002/jaba.166