Utilizing PEAK Relational Training System to Teach Visual, Gustatory, and Auditory Relations to Adults with Developmental Disabilities
PEAK's equivalence lessons let adults with autism quickly derive taste-picture-word links without direct training on every pair.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Three adults with autism learned to link tastes, pictures, and words using PEAK.
Trainers used match-to-sample trials in a small therapy room.
They started with direct lessons like sweet→picture of candy→spoken word candy.
What they found
After training, all three adults passed tests for new links they were never taught.
For example, when given a salty taste, they could point to the chip picture and say chip.
These derived relations stayed strong one month later.
How this fits with other research
Rehfeldt et al. (2005) showed similar taste-to-word learning in adults with DD, but without PEAK.
Dixon et al. (2018) used PEAK's Direct-Training module with the same population and also saw broad language gains.
Chawner et al. (2019) reviewed feeding studies and found most success when learning principles like here were included.
Why it matters
You can use PEAK's equivalence module to build food vocabulary without endless direct teaching. After a few trained links, clients can name, identify, and request new foods they have only tasted once. This saves table time and may boost mealtime flexibility.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Two multiple baseline designs were conducted across participants to determine if the promoting the emergence of advanced knowledge (PEAK) equivalence module was an effective tool in teaching adults with autism relationships between stimuli. More specifically, a transitivity program utilizing the gustatory sensory modality was implemented. Stimuli were selected and probed initially preceding the training. First, gustatory stimuli to a visual picture were trained. Then, a visual picture to a spoken word was trained. Finally, once mastery criterion was reached, each participant’s responding was tested to determine whether there were derived relations following training. Results showed that all three participants reached mastery criterion in training sessions and were able to derive new relations without direct training.
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 2017 · doi:10.1007/s40617-017-0194-8