Comparing the efficacy and efficiency of two approaches to teaching language skills to children with developmental disabilities using a tablet app

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to teach new words to children diagnosed with a developmental disability using a stimulus equivalence paradigm. A one-to-many (OTM) training structure was used to compare two different teaching protocols for teaching words with a tablet app. These protocols were a simultaneous protocol, which presented both types of teaching trial in mixed blocks, and a sequential protocol, which involved presenting each trial type in separate blocks. Of the five participants, two successfully formed equivalence classes in both conditions. These participants also demonstrated maintenance after three weeks. While the three other participants did not form equivalence classes, they did demonstrate improvements over the course of the study. The two participants who formed equivalence classes required fewer trial blocks to reach criterion in the simultaneous condition. Therefore, unlike previous research this study indicates that a simultaneous protocol for teaching words may be both effective and possibly more efficient when compared to other teaching protocols. This suggests that further research is needed to evaluate differential outcomes relating to the sequencing of trial types within teaching and testing phases of stimulus equivalence teaching programs.