Equivalence relations in individuals with language limitations and mental retardation.

Jennifer and her team looked at 55 people with moderate to profound intellectual disability.

Most had little or no spoken language.

They reviewed every equivalence study done with this group to see if naming was needed to form stimulus classes.

Most participants passed equivalence tests even without words.

The review shows you can teach A-B and B-C relations and get A-C for free, even when the learner cannot name the pictures.

Naming is helpful but not required.

Rasing et al. (1992) used exclusion training with the same ID group and found naming usually showed up after equivalence formed.

Hopkinson et al. (2003) adds the bigger picture: naming may follow, but it does not have to come first.

Haimson et al. (2009) later showed that neurotypical adults also need the test trials themselves to lock in the classes.

Together, the three studies say the process is the same across populations; only the tools we use to see it change.

You can run equivalence training with non-speaking clients. Start with simple pictures or objects, teach two conditional discriminations, then probe for emergent relations. If they pass, you have built a new concept without needing speech.