The differential outcomes effect in children with autism

McCormack et al. (2017) asked a simple question: will kids with autism learn new tacts faster if each correct answer gets its own special prize? They worked with three children. Each child went through two kinds of sessions. In one, correct tacts earned social praise plus a unique reinforcer tied to that word. In the other, kids got only praise.

They used an alternating-treatments design. Sessions switched back and forth every day. The team tracked how many trials each child needed to master new tacts under each setup.

Two of the three children reached mastery in fewer trials when the unique reinforcer was added. The third child showed no difference. The authors call this a positive finding for the differential outcomes procedure.

Wing (1981) already showed that rotating reinforcers keeps kids with autism more engaged during DTT. McCormack takes that idea one step further by pairing a specific reinforcer with each specific response.

Kang et al. (2013) compared social praise alone versus tangible items. They found both worked equally well for skill acquisition. McCormack’s positive result seems to disagree, but the difference is the response-specific pairing. Soyeon gave the same edible for every correct answer; McCormack tied a unique sound or snack to each tact.

Dell’Aringa et al. (2021) tested transfer trials and found no speed boost. McCormack’s tactic, however, did speed things up for most kids. Together these studies tell us that the reinforcer matters more than the trial structure.

If you run tact programs, try adding a tiny unique reinforcer right after each correct answer. A drum sound for “drum,” a blueberry for “blue,” etc. Keep social praise in place; just top it off. Two-thirds of McCormack’s learners mastered targets faster with this cheap tweak. It takes seconds to set up and may save you dozens of trials.