Matrix Training of Preliteracy Skills With Preschoolers With Autism

Abstract

Matrix training is a generative approach to instruction in which words are arranged in a matrix so that some multiword phrases are taught and others emerge without direct teaching. We taught 4 preschoolers with autism to follow instructions to perform action-picture combinations (e.g., circle the pepper, underline the deer). Each matrix contained 6 actions on 1 axis and 6 pictures on the other axis. We used most-to-least prompting to train the instructions along the diagonal of each matrix and probed the untrained combinations. For 2 participants, untrained responding emerged after the minimum amount of training. The other 2 participants required further training before untrained combinations emerged. At the end of the study, 3 of the 4 participants performed the trained actions with previously known pictures, letters, and numbers. This study demonstrated that matrix training is an efficient approach to teaching language and literacy skills to children with autism.

Matrix Training and Verbal Generativity in Children with Autism

“…After training with 14 (Shreeya) and 78 (Jake) sentences, the two children in this study demonstrated transfer to the remaining 148 or 84 sentences (see Table 2), suggesting that they had acquired a generalized S-V-O sentence structure. This is consistent with previous findings demonstrating that training on subset of responses can result in the acquisition of several related, untrained responses (e.g., Axe and Sainato 2010;Goldstein 1983a;Goldstein 1983b;Goldstein 1984;Goldstein and Brown 1989;Goldstein and Mousetis 1989;Yamamoto and Miya 1999).…”

“…Matrix training is a teaching tool that might be used to teach such sentence structures and thereby facilitate generative responding (e.g., Axe and Sainato 2010;Goldstein 1983a;Goldstein 1983b;Goldstein 1984;Goldstein and Brown 1989;Goldstein and Mousetis 1989;Yamamoto and Miya 1999).…”

“…Previous research on matrix training has involved non-sense words referring to color-shape combinations (Esper 1925), expressive and receptive object-location and object-preposition-location sentences (Goldstein and Brown 1989;Goldstein and Mousetis 1989), subject-verb-object sentence construction (Yamamoto and Miya 1999), sociodramatic play (Dauphin, Kinney, and Stromer 2004), and receptive actionobject directions (Axe and Sainato 2010). Many previous studies have involved nonsense word combinations (e.g., Esper 1925;Foss 1968;Goldstein 1983a;Goldstein 1983b;Goldstein 1984).…”

Recombinative Generalization of Tacts Through Matrix Training with Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…Others have applied matrix training to teaching prepositions (Goldstein et al 1987;Goldstein and Brown 1989;Goldstein and Mousetis 1989;Light et al 1990). Matrix training studies including individuals with autism have focused on generative spelling (Kinney et al 2003;Tanji and Noro 2011), sociodramatic play and the use of video enhancements (Dauphin et al 2004), and listener responses (Axe and Sainato 2010).…”

An Analysis of Verbal Stimulus Control in Intraverbal Behavior: Implications for Practice and Applied Research

“…This could include comparing the efficacy of teaching single discriminations in mass trials before teaching them in rotation to ensure that such discrimination is achieved (e.g., Lovaas, 2003) as compared to, for example, using matrix training (e.g., Axe & Sainato, 2010), or teaching using random rotation without initial mass trials (Green, 2001;Grow, Carr, Kodak, Jostad, & Kisamore, 2011;Gutierrez Jr., Hale, O'Brien, Fischer, Durocher, & Alessandri, 2009).…”