Gladys Williams, José Julio Carnerero, & Luis Antonio Pérez-González. (2006)
Generalization of tacting actions in children with autism.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis,
39, 233-237.
This intervention compared the effects of two procedures
on the generalization of a tacting repertoire (labeling)
in 6 children with autism spectrum disorder. In one procedure
the verbal antecedent stimulus “What is she doing?” appeared
together with a person performing an action; in the other
procedure, the antecedent stimulus was just the presence
of the action. In initial tests, children emitted tacts
only when the action was presented with the verbal
antecedent. Thereafter, they learned to tact an action
without the verbal antecedent and received tests to
evaluate generalization to another action. Results
indicated that in order to obtain generalization of
tacting actions, it was necessary to learn to tact
other actions without the verbal antecedent as well
as learning to tact the action with the verbal
antecedent. These findings have relevance for
generalization of tacting actions from control by
verbal antecedents to natural conditions and the
production of spontaneous language.
DESCRIPTORS: tacts, labeling, generalization, tacting actions, spontaneous language, autism