Acquisition of Complex Conditional Discriminations in a Child with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder have been reported to demonstrate stimulus overselectivity or restricted stimulus control (i.e., failure to respond to all critical elements of complex stimuli). This potential may have a detrimental impact on the acquisition of academic skills for these individuals if the stimuli in question contain multiple controlling elements. The current study presents a number of methodologies by which attention to, and the subsequent control by, multiple elements of a complex stimulus was demonstrated. The participant in this study was a 10-year-old girl diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. She was taught to select both printed word and picture comparisons, in the presence of complex sample stimuli comprised of visual and auditory elements, via an errorless learning protocol. Specifically, sample stimuli included manual American Sign Language (ASL) signs and the name of the sign. Following training, tests conducted in the absence of programed feedback verified accurate control by each sample element, as well as emergent stimulus-stimulus relations. No evidence of stimulus overselectivity was demonstrated during posttests. This study demonstrated an efficient methodology for forming stimulus classes through complex conditional discrimination training.