Brief Report: The Training and Assessment of Relational Precursors and Abilities (TARPA): A Preliminary Analysis

Abstract

The TARPA (Training & Assessment of Relational Precursors & Abilities) is a recently developed computer-based protocol for the assessment of a progression of key domains of responding critical to the development of generative language. In the current pilot study, five children with autism were assessed using the TARPA and their score on this protocol was correlated with ratings on the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales. Findings showed a statistically significant correlation. This and other features of TARPA performance and their implications for future testing and development of this protocol are discussed.

Correlating derived relational responding with linguistic and cognitive ability in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

“…Results showed (i) a strong and significant correlation between TARPA performance and PLS-4 full-scale and subscales and (ii) evidence to support the hierarchical structuring of the TARPA. These findings support those of Moran et al (2010) by providing further evidence of the link between derived relational responding and language as well as by further demonstrating the utility of the TARPA as a method for assessing the former.…”

“…Overall then, this pattern of results was consistent with the RFT perspective that derived relational responding is the key process involved in language. Lastly, Moran et al (2010) also showed some differences in performance based on stimulus modality. For instance, a number of participants showed weaker responding on sections involving exclusively auditory stimuli than on sections involving at least some visual stimuli, irrespective of the strength of their overall performance.…”

“…This protocol, the Training and Assessment of Relational Precursors and Abilities (TARPA; Kishita, Ohtsuki & Stewart, 2013;Moran, Stewart, McElwee, & Ming, 2010;Moran, Stewart, McElwee, & Ming 2014), tests a number of key forms of responding that are critical (from an RFT perspective) to the development of this repertoire and thus generative verbal behaviour. These forms include (i) basic or simple discrimination; (ii) non-arbitrary [i.e., based on formal or physical properties] conditional discrimination; (iii) arbitrary [i.e., experimenter-designated] conditional discrimination; (iv) mutually entailed relational responding [e.g., deriving the symmetrical relation B !…”

“…Moran et al (2010) measured the performance of five children with ASD on both the TARPA and the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (VABS). A Spearman's rank correlation test showed a strong and significant correlation (r = .97; p = .05) between performance on the two instruments.…”

“…First, a larger sample of children with ASD was employed than in either of the previous studies. More specifically, whereas Moran et al (2010) and Moran et al (2014) used samples of ASD participants of 5 and 10 respectively, the current study employed a sample of 35. Second, in order to measure TARPA test-retest reliability, approximately half of the children assessed (n = 17) were retested with a completely new set of stimuli within 2 weeks 2 of the first test.…”