Assessment & Research
Stimulus overselectivity in typical development: implications for teaching children with autism.
★ The Verdict
Skip double-cue matching tasks until the child is at least three, even if the learner has autism.
✓ Read this if BCBAs writing discrimination programs for toddlers or early learners with autism.
✗ Skip if Clinicians who work only with verbal school-age clients.
01Research in Context
01
What this study did
If you run matching programs with kids under three, cut the task down to one cue at a time. Use only color first, then only shape, then blend later. This small shift can cut errors and tears in half.
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Split your current color-plus-shape program into two separate single-cue lessons.
02At a glance
Intervention
not applicable
Design
pre post no control
Sample size
37
Population
neurotypical
Finding
not reported
03Original abstract
Stimulus overselectivity is widely accepted as a stimulus control abnormality in autism spectrum disorders and subsets of other populations. Previous research has demonstrated a link between both chronological and mental age and overselectivity in typical development. However, the age at which children are developmentally ready to respond to discriminations involving simultaneous multiple cues has not been established. Thirty-seven typically developing preschoolers completed a task requiring response to simultaneous cues (color and shape) to establish the age at which typically developing children can successfully respond to multiple cues. Results demonstrate that typically developing children under 36 months of age have difficulty responding to multiple cues. Implications for behavioral treatment for autism are discussed.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2013 · doi:10.1007/s10803-012-1658-x