Using the Teacher IRAP (T-IRAP) interactive computerized programme to teach complex flexible relational responding with children with diagnosed autism spectrum disorder

Murphy and team built a kid-friendly computer game called T-IRAP.

The game teaches children with autism to match words and pictures in flexible ways.

Five children played T-IRAP on some days and did regular table-top teaching on other days.

The team timed how fast and how accurately each child answered.

Every child pressed the correct keys faster during T-IRAP than during table-top drills.

Accuracy improved only a little, and one child showed gains on a language test after mastering the hardest game level.

The other four children did not score higher on the test after the game.

Chastain et al. (2026) later used the same equivalence idea with teens.

They taught value-to-action phrases and saw strong emergent intraverbals, showing the concept can travel across ages.

Nickerson et al. (2015) also used an alternating-treatments design and found that spreading practice across days beat cramming.

Murphy’s study adds that a computer can deliver those spaced trials faster, but the leap to real-world language stays small.

Gavidia et al. (2022) saw mixed emergence when they used instructive feedback in discrete trials.

Their uneven results echo Murphy’s modest accuracy gains, hinting that derived responding often needs extra supports.

T-IRAP gives you a speedy way to build relational flexibility, but do not expect big language jumps right away.

Use the game as a warm-up or fluency booster, then probe for untaught relations in natural tasks.

If scores stay flat, add more exemplars or bridge to real objects and conversations.