TRAINING AND TESTING MUSIC SKILLS IN A BOY WITH AUTISM USING A MATCHING-TO-SAMPLE FORMAT

Transcription

1 Behavioral Interventions Behav. Intervent. 25: (2010) Published online in Wiley InterScience ( TRAINING AND TESTING MUSIC SKILLS IN A BOY WITH AUTISM USING A MATCHING-TO-SAMPLE FORMAT Erik Arntzen 1 *, Lill-Beathe Halstadtro 2, Eli Bjerke 3 and Monica Halstadtro 3 1 Akershus University College, Lillestrom, Norway 2 St. Olavs Hospital, Trondsletten Habilitation Services, Norway 3 Byasen High School, Trondheim, Norway A 16-year old boy with autism was taught music skills using a matching to sample procedure. He was trained and subsequently tested for the formation of four 4-member classes, including different visual music stimuli, and Norwegian and Vietnamese labels for different major and minor chords. Four different stimuli sets were trained both in one-to-many (OTM) and many-to-one (MTO) training structures. Further, we explored if the reaction times to comparison stimuli increased from training to testing. Results showed that the participant formed equivalence classes with music relations. Furthermore, there were small differences only between OTM and MTO with respect to stimulus equivalence responding. The reaction times to comparison stimuli increased from training to testing, and were most pronounced for the equivalence trials. Copyright # 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. INTRODUCTION Demonstrations of reflexivity, symmetry, and transitivity have been defined as an interpretation of the behavioral outcome of stimulus equivalence (Sidman, 2000; Sidman & Tailby, 1982). One of the characteristics has been that training a set of conditional relations have resulted in many other conditional relations that are not directly trained, i.e., participants have demonstrated new conditional relations not explicitly taught after they have learned a number of arbitrary conditional discriminations. The emergence of untrained relations is interesting in a number of ways, and no less in applied settings. It is quite surprising that strategies based on the stimulus equivalence approach are not more used in applied settings and, thus, more research is called so that it will be possible to incorporate stimulus equivalence training in treatment programs (Cautilli, Hancock, Thomas, & Tillman, 2002). However, the work with normal developing children by derose and colleagues are worth mention as an exception (e.g., de Rose, de Souza, & Hanna, 1996). *Correspondence to: Erik Arntzen, Akershus University College, P.O. Box 423, 2001 Lillestrom, Norway. erik.arntzen@equivalence.net Copyright # 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

2 130 E. Arntzen et al. For example, in conditional discrimination training in which the participants are trained to for the three 3-member classes the participant would be trained to respond to comparison B1 and not B2 or B3 if the sample stimulus is A1; comparison B2 and not B1 or B3 if A2 is present; comparison B3 and not B1 or B2 if A3 is present. Furthermore, the participant would be trained to choose comparison C1 and not C2 or C3 if B1 is present; comparison C2 and not C1 or C3 if B2 is present; comparison C3 and not C1 or C2 if B3 is present. The responding is characterized as symmetric if the participant chooses comparison A1 and not A2 or A3 if B1 is presented, and chooses comparison B1 and not B2 or B3 if C1 is presented. The responding is characterized as transitivity if the participant chooses comparison C1 and not C2 or C3 when A1 is presented; comparison C2 and not C1 or C3 if A2 is presented as the sample; comparison C3 and not C1 or C2 if A3 is presented as the sample. The responding is characterized as equivalence if the participant chooses comparison A1 and not A2 or A3 when C1 is presented; comparison A2 and not A1 or A3 when C2 is presented; comparison A3 and not A1 or A2 when C3 is presented. Three different training structures have been described in the literature on stimulus equivalence (e.g., Saunders, Saunders, Williams, & Spradlin, 1993), i.e., linear series (LS) (A! B! C), one-to-many (OTM) (A! B and A! C), and many-to-one (MTO) (A! B and C! B). Reports on the equivalence outcome have found different results as a function of training structure. Some reports have found that OTM has been more effective than MTO, and some others have found that MTO has been more effective than OTM. However, the LS training structure has given the lowest yields on equivalence tests (Arntzen, Grondahl, & Eilifsen, in press). So it seems relevant to conduct experiments to expand the knowledge about the different effects of MTO and OTM training structures. The increase in reaction time has been related to problem solving behavior (Holth & Arntzen, 1998). There are also some data showing that there are differences in reaction times in different training structures, i.e., longer reaction time in the OTM training structure during baseline conditions compared to the other training structures. Furthermore, that there is an increase from baseline to testing and that the increase is more pronounced for equivalence trials than for symmetry trials (e.g., Arntzen et al., in press; Arntzen & Holth, 1997, 2000; Arntzen & Lian, in press). A relatively small number of studies have demonstrated stimulus equivalence or derived relations with individuals with mental retardation (O Donnell & Saunders, 2003). Stimulus equivalence procedures have been used to train money skills (e.g., McDonagh, McIlvane, & Stoddard, 1984; Trace, Cuvo, & Criswell, 1977), reading skills (e.g., Mackay, 1985), math skills (Hall, DeBernadis, & Reiss, 2006; Maydak, Stromer, Mackay, & Stoddard, 1995), geographical skills (e.g., Hall et al., 2006; LeBlanc, Miguel, Cummings, Goldsmith, & Carr, 2003), and verbal skills (Perez-Gonzalez, Garcia- Asenjo, Williams, & Carnerero, 2007; Perez-Gonzalez, Herszlikowicz, & Williams,

3 Music skills and SE ). Trace et al. (1977) trained seven adolescents with mental retardation to match several different combinations of coins to equal values in a combined pretest post-test design and a multiple baseline design. The results showed that the training procedures were effective in teaching coin equivalence and the emergence of untrained relations in the treatment group, whilst the emergent relations were not shown in the participants in the control group. Furthermore, the performance was maintained in follow-up tests, i.e., 1 week and 1 month after the training was completed. In a study by Mackay (1985), three boys with mental disabilities were trained in matching of colors and printed words. Before the training they could match spoken color names and patches of color and tact the colors. After the training the boys responded correct when matching printed words to dictated words (reading-comprehension) and naming printed words (oral reading). Furthermore, Maydak et al. (1995) trained two adults with mental disabilities in numeric skills. The participants were trained to match the numerals 1 5 to dots making up the quantities and to their corresponding numbers. The results showed that the matching-tosample training produced emergent relations. In a study conducted by Perez-Gonzalez et al. (2007), two children with pervasive development disorder were trained with pairs of intraverbals as for example name the opposite of more ; less. The results showed that emergence of untrained intraverbal antonyms were found after extended cycles of training and testing. LeBlanc et al. (2003) trained US geography skills in two children with autism. They used an LS training structure in which the A-stimuli were printed US states names, B-stimuli were maps indicating the shapes of the states, and C-stimuli were the printed state capitals. Results showed that the participants learned the US geography skills and untrained relations also emerged. Similar in a study by Hall et al. (2006), one female and four adolescents with fragile X syndrome were trained in math and US geography tasks. They used the same stimuli for the training and testing as in LeBlanc et al. (2003). In the second part, the stimuli used for training and testing in the match condition were fractions (A), picture of pie charts (B), and decimals (C). The participants were trained in an LS training structure, and tested for responding in accord with equivalence, transitivity, and symmetry. The results showed that four out of five of the participants responded correctly during training with math tasks and one in accord with equivalence during testing. For the geography, three of the five participants responded correctly during training and all three responded in accord with equivalence during testing. As mentioned previously, conditional discrimination training has shown to result in many new, untrained relations in with different stimuli. However, we have not observed any studies yet where stimulus equivalence procedures have been used to train music skills with individuals with autism. Therefore, we wanted explore the effectiveness of equivalence training by teaching an adolescent with autism new skills within his field of interest, i.e., music. Accordingly, the main purpose of the present

4 132 E. Arntzen et al. study was to establish some music skills by a conditional discrimination procedure and to test for derived relations. Furthermore, to compare the effectiveness of MTO versus OTM training structures with respect to emergence of derived relations. We also wanted to investigate if the reaction times to comparison stimuli increased from training to testing. METHOD Participant Tom was a 16-year old male with autism. His first language was Vietnamese and Norwegian was his second language. He had some reading skills in both Vietnamese and Norwegian. He was enrolled in a special education class for youths with autism or other developmental disabilities at a public high school. On the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for children (WISC-111), Tom s performance IQ was scored as 32. A verbal IQ score could not be obtained due to his level of functioning. He was very interested in music and liked listening to the Rolling Stones, Beatles, and Elvis Presley. He could play new, simple melodies on the keyboard with his right hand (the melody line) and with the aid of a color code to indicate which note to play. He could also play 2 3 simple rhythms on the percussion drums, and could sing ten songs with the correct melody together with the lyrics. However, he could not play any instrument by reading notes. Therefore, the goal was to teach Tom to read simple notes and to play them on the piano/keyboard. Apparatus A laptop, Dell Latitude D510 with a Dell mouse was used. The experimental software was made by Psych Fusion Ltd. and developed in collaboration with the first author. The matching-to-sample software controlled all stimulus presentations and the recording of the responses. Stimulus Material As shown in Figure 1, the stimulus material was written major/minor chords in Norwegian (Set A), major/minor chords written as dots on piano keys (Set B), major/minor chords written as notes (Set C), and written major/minor chords in Vietnamese (Set D). The stimuli were presented on the screen and the sample stimulus was always presented in the middle of the screen, while the comparison stimuli were randomly presented in the corners.

5 Music skills and SE 133 Figure 1. Stimuli in different sets. Members are labeled with letters and classes are labeled with numbers. The first sets are the major chords and the two other sets are the minor chords.

6 134 E. Arntzen et al. Procedure The training and testing took place in Tom s room in school. The room was 12 m 2.The room had a shelf, table, PC table, and three chairs. Tom s teacher was in the room while he was working with the program. The study lasted for 4 weeks with 2 4 training sessions per day Monday Friday. The training sessions were a minimum of 40 min in duration and consisted of three training sequences and two breaks. The training sequences lasted for 10 min and the breaks for 5 min. After finishing the training sequences he received 5 kroner (one Norwegian krone is about US dollars) for having worked on the computer. After the experimental session he could use the money to buy different activities, e.g., watch a DVD film for a few minutes or read some pages in a book. Pretesting Before we started the training to establish conditional discrimination, Tom was tested if he performed correctly according to the experimenter-defined four 4-member classes. The participant was given a pile with the printouts of the stimuli in each set, i.e., all 16 stimuli for each of the four sets were in each pile. Each test session started with the following instruction: Please, sort the stimuli. No feedback or corrections were presented during the test. The test was run three times in succession for each of the four stimuli sets. Instruction Before the start of each training session, Tom read the following text originally in Norwegian on the screen: You are going to do some tasks on the computer. The point is to respond correctly as much as possible. The word correct on the screen means you have clicked correctly, while the word incorrect means you have clicked incorrectly. Sometimes you will not receive any messages of correct or incorrect. Thank you for doing the tasks. Behavior Recordings Responses to sample stimulus and comparison stimuli and reaction time for responses to both sample and comparison stimuli were recorded automatically by the software. Training Each trial started with a response to sample stimulus and followed by presentation of comparison stimuli randomly presented in the corners. Correct responses to

7 Music skills and SE 135 comparison stimuli were followed by the written word correct on the screen. Incorrect responses were followed by the written word incorrect on the screen and the trial was repeated until the participant made a correct choice. The feedback following correct or incorrect responses remained on the screen for 3 s and was followed by a 1 s inter-trial interval. The participant was trained and tested for four different sets of stimuli, i.e., two with major chords and two with minor chords. One of each chord was trained with two different training structures, i.e., OTM and MTO. For the first major chord (see stimuli set #1 in Figure 1), the participant was trained to form a three 3-member classes with an MTO training structure. This was followed by expansion of both number of classes and members, i.e., he was trained and tested with four 3-member classes and with four 4-member classes, successively. Training for the second major chord was the same, except that we used stimuli set #2 (see Figure 1) and an OTM training structure. The first minor chord was trained as described for the major chords, except that we used stimuli set #3 (see Figure 1). The second minor chord was trained as described above, except that we used stimuli set #4 (see Figure 1) and an MTO training structure. Training to form the three 3-member classes for all stimuli sets were followed by tests for emergent relations (see below). Then, training to expand classes and members were introduced and followed by another test for emergent relations (see below). The sequence of training is shown in Table 1. The first letter of the two letters in a pair of letters is always the sample and the second is always the comparison, i.e., A is the sample and B is the comparison if the pair is AB. Furthermore, each class is indicated by numbers, i.e., A1 and B1 are in the same class, while A2 and B2 are in a different class. For all four sets with the three 3-member classes, the trials were introduced on a serialized basis and the number of comparisons was gradually increased. In the first block, only the correct comparison was presented for the AB relations, i.e., A1B1, A2B2, and A3B3 trials. In the second block, for the CB relations (for the MTO training structure) the following trials were trained C1B1, C2B2, C3B3, or AC relations (for the OTM training structure) or the following trials were trained A1C1, A2C2, A3C3. In these two first blocks a minimum of nine correct responses were required before moving the next block. In the third block, all trial types were intermixed but with only the correct comparison. Sixteen of 18 correct responses were required to move on to the next block. In the fourth block, the number of comparisons was increased, i.e., one correct and one incorrect. In the fifth block, all comparisons were presented, i.e., one correct and two incorrect. In blocks 1 5, it was 100% feedback for every correct response. Blocks 6 9 were the same as block 5 except that the feedback was faded from 75 to 0% in four steps if the participant had 90% correct or more responding. The last training block was followed by a test block (see below). The trials for the OTM training were: A1B1B2B3, A2B1B2B3, A3B1B2B3,

8 136 E. Arntzen et al. Table 1. The table shows training and test criterion during each block. Phases Training structures Training and test criterion Feedback Three 3-member classes (1) Training AB trials with one comparison 9/9 100% (2) Training CB (MTO) or AC (OTM) trials with two comparisons 9/9 100% (3) Mixing of AB and CB (MTO) trials or AB and AC (OTM) trials with one comparison 17/18 100% (4) Mixing of AB and CB (MTO) trials or AB and AC (OTM) trials with two comparisons 17/18 100% (5) Mixing of AB and CB (MTO) trials or AB and AC (OTM) trials with three comp. 17/18 100% (6) Mixing of AB and CB (MTO) trials or AB and AC (OTM) trials with three comp. 17/18 75% (7) Mixing of AB and CB (MTO) trials or AB and AC (OTM) trials with three comp. 17/18 50% (8) Mixing of AB and CB (MTO) trials or AB and AC (OTM) trials with three comp. 17/18 25% (9) Mixing of AB and CB (MTO) trials or AB and AC (OTM) trials with three comp. 17/18 0% (10) Testing symmetry and equivalence: BA, BC, AC and CA (MTO) or BA, CA, BC and 17/18 0% CB (OTM) Four 3-member classes (1) Mixing of AB and CB (MTO) trials or AB and AC (OTM) trials with three comp. 22/24 100% (2) Mixing of AB and CB (MTO) trials or AB and AC (OTM) trials with three comp. 22/24 75% (3) Mixing of AB and CB (MTO) trials or AB and AC (OTM) trials with three comp. 22/24 50% (4) Mixing of AB and CB (MTO) trials or AB and AC (OTM) trials with three comp. 22/24 25% (5) Mixing of AB and CB (MTO) trials or AB and AC (OTM) trials with three comp. 22/24 0% (6) Testing symmetry and equivalence: BA, BC, AC, and CA (MTO) or BA, CA, BC, and CB (OTM) 22/24 0% Four 4-member classes (1) Mixing of AB, CB, and DB (MTO) trials or AB, AC, and AD (OTM) trials with four comp. 33/36 100% (2) Mixing of AB, CB, and DB (MTO) trials or AB, AC, and AD (OTM) trials with four comp. 33/36 75% (3) Mixing of AB, CB, and DB (MTO) trials or AB, AC, and AD (OTM) trials with four comp. 33/36 50% (4) Mixing of AB, CB, and DB (MTO) trials or AB, AC, and AD (OTM) trials with four comp. 33/36 25% (5) Mixing of AB, CB, and DB (MTO) trials or AB, AC, and AD (OTM) trials with four comp. 33/36 0% (6) Testing symmetry and equivalence: BA, BC, BD, AC, CD, AD, DC, CA, and DA (MTO) or BA, 33/36 0% CA, DA, BC, CD, BD, DC, CB, and DB (OTM)

9 Music skills and SE 137 A1C1C2C3, A2C1C2C3, and A3C1C2C3. For the MTO training the trials were: A1B1B2B3, A2B1B2B3, A3B1B2B3, C1B1B2B3, C2B1B2B3, and C3B1B2B3. When size and number of classes were expanded as for the four 3-member classes and the four 4-member classes all relations were presented from the beginning, following the same procedure as described above for block 5. The fading of consequences was the same as for block 6 9 above. The last training block was followed by a test block (see below). For the four 3-member classes we trained the following trials for the OTM training structure: A1B1B2B3B4, A2B1B2B3B4, A3B1B2B3B4, A4B1B2B3B4, A1C1C2C3C4, A2C1C2C3C4, A3C1C2C3C4, A4C1C2C3C4. For the four 4-member classes the trials were: A1B1B2B3B4, A2B1B2B3B4, A3B1B2B3B4, A4B1B2B3B4, A1C1C2C3C4, A2C1C2C3C4, A3C1C2C3C4, A4C1C2C3C4, A1D1D2D3D4, A2D1D2D3D4, A3D1D2D3D4, A4D1D2D3D4. For the four 3-member classes we trained the following trials for the MTO training structure: A1B1B2B3B4, A2B1B2B3B4, A3B1B2B3B4, A4B1B2B3B4, C1B1B2B3B4, C2B1B2B3B4, C3B1B2B3B4, C4B1B2B3B4. For the four 4-member classes the trials were: A1B1B2B3B4, A2B1B2B3B4, A3B1B2B3B4, A4B1B2B3B4, C1B1B2B3B4, C2B1B2B3B4, C3B1B2B3B4, C4B1B2B3B4, D1B1B2B3B4, D2B1B2B3B4, D3B1B2B3B4 and D4B1B2B3B4. Trials to criterion for the four 3-member classes were a minimum of 22/24 (correct/ total) responses and for the four 4-member classes the criterion was 33/36. Testing The last training block in the formation of three 3-member classes, four 3-member classes, or four 4-member classes was always followed by test blocks in which symmetry and equivalence trials were randomly intermixed. The tested relations are shown in Table 1. The test was always run in one session and there was no feedback presented for any trials in the test block. Retraining If the participant did not respond in accord with equivalence (see criteria for the definition below), he was retrained. If retrained the training started with the phase with mixing of all relations and with 100% feedback and followed by the phases with reducing the feedback. Finally, another test phase was employed. The retraining was employed only once. Definition of Responding in Accord with Equivalence and Symmetry We defined responding in accord with symmetry and equivalence for training with the three 3-member classes when the participant responded with a minimum of 17/18

10 138 E. Arntzen et al. (correct/total) on both tests, for the training with the four 3-member classes a minimum of 22/24 for both tests, and for training with the three 4-member classes the numbers were 33/36 and 65/72 or more. Therefore, for all tests we calculated an index of derived relations. If the index was higher than 0.9 it was defined as indicative for responding in accord with symmetry or equivalence. RESULTS During the pretest the participant responded with 0% correct for all classes, although, we have only showed the data from the tests in Figures 2 and 3. In Figure 2, the indices of symmetry and equivalence scores are shown for the stimuli sets with the major chords. The participant did not respond in accord with equivalence following the first training with the MTO structure. After retraining he responded with equivalence on the three 3-member classes. For the four 3-member classes he responded in accord with equivalence without retraining. For the four 4-member classes he required retraining before he responded in accord with equivalence. For the OTM training structure only one set had to be retrained. For both the three 3-member classes and four 4-member classes he responded according to equivalence without retraining, while he responded with equivalence after retraining of the four 3-member classes. Figure 2. Derived responding (symmetry and equivalence) in different tests for the major chords. The y-axis is index of derived responding and on the x-axis is different sets of stimuli. Black bars are the responding for the symmetry trials, while gray bars are responding for equivalence trials.

11 Music skills and SE 139 Figure 3. Derived responding (symmetry and equivalence) in different tests for the minor chords. The y-axis is index of derived responding and on the x-axis is different sets of stimuli. Black bars are responding for the symmetry trials, while gray bars are responding for the equivalence trials. The indices for the stimuli sets with the minor chords starting with the OTM training structure are shown in Figure 3. For the three 3-member classes he responded in accord with equivalence, but not with symmetry, so he was retrained and responded successfully. For both the four 3-member classes and the four 4-member classes he responded in accord with equivalence without retraining. For the minor chords trained with MTO, he started with responding according to equivalence. For the four 3-member classes he responded in accord with symmetry, but not in accord with equivalence. After retraining he responded in accord with equivalence. For the four 4-member classes he did not respond in accord either with symmetry or equivalence, and not after retraining. As shown in Figure 4, the reaction time data show that the increase in reaction was most pronounced from baseline (the five last training trials) to equivalence trials. Furthermore, the reaction time for the baseline trials was higher for the OTM training structure than for the MTO training structure. DISCUSSION The purpose of the current study was to expand the areas in which stimulus equivalence training has shown to be effective. The main results in the current study

12 140 E. Arntzen et al. Figure 4. Median reaction time to comparison stimuli in last five training trials (bsl) and the first five for symmetry trials, and the first five and the last five trials for equivalence trials. Light black bars are reaction time for the OTM training structure, while gray bars are the reaction times for the MTO training structure. showed that the participant learned the different classes both as major and minor chords following training both MTO and OTM training structures, except for the last stimuli set trained with MTO. Furthermore, a large number of relations emerged as a result of the conditional discrimination training. The findings on the extra effects of conditional discrimination training from our study are in accord with results from a number of other studies (Hall et al., 2006; LeBlanc et al., 2003; Mackay, 1985; Maydak et al., 1995; Perez-Gonzalez et al., 2007; Trace et al., 1977) who showed the effectiveness of matching to sample procedures for teaching different skills and demonstrated emergence of untrained relations to individuals with mental retardation/autism. The participant learned the major and minor chords for all stimuli sets with the OTM training structure, and three of four sets with the major structure - except the four 4-member classes with the minor chords. For both major and minor chords with MTO he needed to be retrained for two of the sets, while only one retraining was required for OTM. Another issue is that in the first training with OTM and the three 3- member classes he actually responded in accord with equivalence and not symmetry, but with an index of So in a sense we can conclude that OTM was more effective in producing emergent relations in this participant. As mentioned above, for some of the stimuli sets the participant had to be retrained and then retested to see if the equivalence classes were formed. This is in accordance with, for example, Perez-Gonzalez et al. (2007) who showed that repeated cycles of probing and teaching resulted in emergence of new relations. Therefore, it could be

13 Music skills and SE 141 important to include cycles of retraining and retesting in the teaching programs in applied settings. It will ensure that the participants who do not respond in accord with equivalence immediately will do it if they get more training and testing. The procedure in the current study was computer based which is also the case in the study by Hall et al. (2006). However, a number of studies have used a table top presentation (e.g., LeBlanc et al., 2003). Computer-based procedures have some important advantages compared to table-top presentations, i.e., the need for reliability scores and integrity data in table top presentations. Furthermore, the experimenters using table top procedures have to be very careful in how the procedure is employed, e.g., prompts etc. A number of researchers have indicated that measures of reaction time in research on derived relations could be important (e.g., Dymond & Rehfeldt, 2001; LeBlanc et al., 2003). Furthermore, others have argued that the reason for the increase in reaction time from baseline trials to test trials is due to some problem solving behavior (e.g., Arntzen, 2004). In the current study, we found that reaction time increased from baseline to testing, and that the increase was more pronounced for equivalence trials compared to symmetry trials. This is in accord with a number of other studies (e.g., Arntzen & Lian, in press; Bentall, Dickins, & Fox, 1993; Eilifsen & Arntzen, 2009; Spencer & Chase, 1996) and it is probable that the participant was engaged in some problem solving behavior in the beginning of the test block. Future research should focus on exploring such problem solving behavior by for example introducing distracters during the test. In a literature review on equivalence relations in persons with a limited or moderate verbal repertoire O Donnell and Saunders (2003) suggested that documentation of subjects language ability could be an extremely valuable addition to studies of equivalence relations. They argue for using standard assessment tools that involve direct measures of specific behavior so that comparable information would be provided across studies. We will also echo Cautilli et al. (2002), who stated that it is of importance to include such programs in which you train and test for equivalence relations in the curriculum for children with autism. After the participant had learned to form classes of the major chords, he was perhaps likely to form classes more quickly on the tests during minor chords. Arntzen and Vaidya (2008) focused on the problem that experience in an earlier experimental condition could influence performance in a later experimental condition. Therefore, future research in this area should further explore the knowledge of functional skills and with the use of other types experimental designs as for example multiple baseline design. We will argue that studies on equivalence training in people with mental retardation are of both practical and theoretical importance. The current study is one more demonstration and expands the areas where stimulus equivalence procedures have

14 142 E. Arntzen et al. been used with individuals with autism. Thus, the matching to sample procedure was effective for teaching a boy with autism music skills. Out of interest, after the matching-to-sample training Tom has begun to use both major and minor chords when playing the keyboard/piano. Further research should include younger participants diagnosed with developmental disabilities. Also, it would be interesting to use equivalence training to train other skills for example social studies, nature studies, and other hobby skills. REFERENCES Arntzen, E. (2004). Probability of equivalence formation: Familiar stimuli and training sequence. The Psychological Record, 54, Arntzen, E., Grondahl, T., & Eilifsen, C. (in press) The effects of different training structures in the establishment of conditional discriminations and the subsequent performance on the tests for stimulus equivalence. The Psychological Record. Arntzen, E., & Holth, P. (1997). Probability of stimulus equivalence as a function of training design. The Psychological Record, 47, Arntzen, E., & Holth, P. (2000). Differential probabilities of equivalence outcome in individual subjects as a function of training structure. The Psychological Record, 50, Arntzen, E., & Lian, T. (in press) Trained and derived relations with pictures as nodes. The Psychological Record. Arntzen, E., & Vaidya, M. (2008). The effect of baseline training structure on equivalence class formation in children. Experimental Analysis of Human Behavior Bulletin, 29, 1 8. Bentall, R. P., Dickins, D. W., & Fox, S. R. A. (1993). Naming and equivalence: Response latencies for emergent relations. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology: Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 46B, Cautilli, J. D., Hancock, M. A., Thomas, C. A., & Tillman, C. (2002). Behavior therapy and autism: Issues in diagnosis and treatment. The Behavior Analyst Today, 3, de Rose, J. C., de Souza, D. G., & Hanna, E. S. (1996). Teaching reading and spelling: Exclusion and stimulus equivalence. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 29, Dymond, S., & Rehfeldt, R. A. (2001). Supplemental measures and derived stimulus relations. Experimental Analysis of Human Behavior Bulletin, 19, Eilifsen, C., & Arntzen, E. (2009). On the role of trial types in tests for stimulus equivalence. European Journal of Behavior Analysis, 10, Hall, S. S., DeBernadis, G. M., & Reiss, A. L. (2006). The acquisition of stimulus equivalence in individuals with fragile X syndrome. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 50, Holth, P., & Arntzen, E. (1998). Stimulus familiarity and the delayed emergence of stimulus equivalence or consistent nonequivalence. The Psychological Record, 48, LeBlanc, L. A., Miguel, C. F., Cummings, A. R., Goldsmith, T. R., & Carr, J. E. (2003). The effects of three stimulus-equivalence testing conditions on emergent US geography relations of children diagnosed with autism. Behavioral Interventions, 18(4), Mackay, H. A. (1985). Stimulus equivalence in rudimentary reading and spelling. Analysis and Intervention in Developmental Disabilities, 6,

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