ERSONS WITH TEACHING DISCRIMINATION SKILLS TO PI MENTAL RI K. Shriver Center for Mental Retardation Special educators face the task of teaching a wide variety of skills to students with developmental disabilities like mental retardation or autism, Educational goals include self-care skills like dressing and washing, houschold skills like cooking and doing the laundry. and academic skills like reading and arithmetic, These are the same skills that typically developing children and young adults also must lear in order to get along effectively in the world. The topic of this paper is a type of shill that is involved in virtually all areas of instruction. This paper is about te: ching discrimination skills, Discrimination refers to differentiating between or among stimuli. The evidence for discrimination is differential behavior. The teacher can conclude that the student discriminates between two stimuli if there are occasions when the student will behave differently depending on which stimulus is present. This paper will describe a research program with the goal of developing a true behavioral technology for teaching discrimination skills to individuals who learn poorly or not at all with typical instructional methods. The research is ongoing in the Behavioral Sciences Division fof the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center for Mental Retardation. The Shriver Center is an independent research facility, funded mostly by grants from the National Institutes of Health, a division of the U. S. Public Health Service. My colleagues in the Behavioral Sciences Division whoare also working on N this project include William J. Mellvane, Richard W. Serna, Robert Stromer, Krista Wilkinson, G ina Green, Harry A. Mackay. and Lawrence T. Stoddard. Using a variety « training path that bs nce to produce The trainin, pr Simple and conditional discrimination procedures, we have de eda NS with basic discrimination skills and then systematically ui aborates, a Mexible, functional repertoire that can be used in teaching applications als more than just to teach many different discriminations. The geal is to make ressiv€ improvements in the individuals discrimination learning The moderste to them live in eee Pants tM OUF research program are primarily children and teenagers with evere mental retard: ation oF other similar developmental disabilities. Almost all of rae anal schools, and they have significant defieits in adaptive behavior and Shall a eation abilities. The training is designed to supply these students with the diserimination hills necessary to participate in basic acaderne instruction, For example, an educational objective {of a nonvocal individual might be to carn (0 use an augmentative communication system, like a booklet with an assortment of Sords or symbols to point to (Blackstone, 1986; Romski, Sevcik, & Joyner. 1984); for others, educational obj jectives may include a simple vocabulary of useful words that can be recognized and read to an integrated set of tool the teaching path must have no gaps oF cul. at any point must be met with Gssribe the current state of the teaching path and some of re approaches we the gaps. es. This chapter will are taking to bridge imination skill, however, is ‘one’s shoes in one respect. Learning to tie shoes involves \d new forms of stimulus control; that is, the student must ys. according to the visual and tactile stimulation of the &, the student can already perform the required response, or some other way of indicating a selection. All of the tasks is simple response requirement. In teaching discrimination skills ation learni i's simply pointing, touching, deseribed in this chapter have th 74new forms of stimulus control «= that is, he goal is can focus on establishin, Tattons between stimuli and existing responses. the teach e-1 shows five discrimination tasks that are the main steps in the teaching path, The s paper will describe the basic features of these tasks. The arrows in Figure 1 ¢ stucient from one step to the next. This paper will also describe paths that have been developed (and some currently under study) arise when going from one step to the next. We are trying to fill the gaps in | in some instances, but we still have more work to do in others. ths remedial (raini Response SSioganne Figure When a new subject is recruited, he or she is first tested to find an effective reinforcing consequence Teaching cannot proceed until a means to provide positive reinforcement is dentified. Then, we assess his or her existing shills. At what point in the teaching path should the student enter? The details of the assessments will not be given here (see Behavioral Sciences Division. 1994: Dube, lennac Ivane, 1993), but one feature of the assessment is important to emphasize’ When someone fails on one of the simple matching tasks, the assessment also 75at nsttustion, The assessment -¢ incides efforts to teach the task with Mandar methods of ust \diional practice when students do not improve aller 3 Simpte Discrimination the first step in the teaching path (Figure 1) is simple discrimination. An example of Sans MRISAT discrimination displays is shown in Figure 2; these displays ate presented tothe SAAS aS a series of discrete trials. We present the displays on a computer sereen in our Perdis but most of them can also he implemented on a deshiop with stinvulus materials Prepared with paper and pen In simple discrimination, The correct respo forcer is presented fone stimulus is. aly INS correct, $+, and the other is always vise ir this tash isto select the St on every i immediately LAr trainin, al, as shown in Figure aficr each correct response. At this starting point i eye ibe the nonsense forms shown in Figure 2. Simple NE Most often use ‘tion training with stim student's teaming histor diserimin, P uli We Teters oF numbers tay oy "Y by teaching that certain letter necessarily complicate the S OF numbers are always correct and others Ways incorrectSeveral methods are available to teach simple discriminations, One. a fading procedure, is suggested in Figure 3 by several representative steps from a fading progsam (the actual program has 16 fading steps). At first, the student is presented with the $+ displayed alone, as shown at the topof Figure 3. Then, the S- is introduced at a very low intensity. Over a series of trials, the intensity of S- is increased gradually, until it is the same as S+ (e.g. Terrace. 1963: Sidman & Stoddard, 1966). Ifthe teaching is not successful with the two-dimensional arbitrary stimuli, one remedial step is to train_with three-dimensional objects as. stimuli, pethaps including familiar objects. In some cases. students begin to learn when they can touch the stimuli, Currently under study are says to make the transition from objects to two-dimensional abstract forms. Simple discrimination is just a starting point for discrimination skills training, This initial Step establishes stimulus definition, response topography, and a reinforcement contingency. With most students, we tty {0 move on quickly to the next step, generalized identity matching to sample. 7ample Generalized Identity Matching to Samp! _ not correct on every tris ean i i comparison stimuli (in apie and gorest comparison vin be a generalized shill. That . one able to match new ure 4. the In identity matching, shown in Figure 4 determines ‘ample stimulus (in the center of each display) ds ne ents is based on the physical properties of the stimuli Se is, after taining with several different sets of stimuli, the s Stimuli accurately without explicit training. which wan ty alg san be used to quickly verify identity matching, the potential be a starting point for teaching on on arbitrary matching, below). ing is a big step. In simple ation, one stimulus determines the correct choice. but in identity matching the correct %,choice depends on a relation between hwo stimuli, We are worki they ate a bit complex, The following section will ‘on several remedial paths, and escribe the main features of one of them. This a1 approach to. progsamiming remedial discrimination seetion Will also serve to illustrate a gen Remedial Program to Fstablish Identity Mateh The first step in remedial programming is to specify the training goal oF target; in this, case, itis the performance shown in Figure 4, The next step is to analyze the prerequisites for the goal There are two important prerequisites for generalized identity matching: (1) Because the sample stimulus may change from one trial to the nest, one exposure to the sample must be suf ination. The student will not be able to do this task if several reinforced selections are necessary to establish stimulus control. (2) A second prerequisite arises because the correct and incorrect comparison stimuli may reverse from trial fo trial. That is, the S+ frequently and suddenly becomes the S-, and vice Versa. The student will not be able to do this task if he or she persists in selecting the same comparison stimulus that was correct on the previous trial, Instead, the student must be capable of rapid and flexible discrimination reversals (Dube, Mellvane, & Green, 1992) ant for diseris Figure 5 illustrates the remedial path for identity matching. The gray arrow on the left shows one general principle of programmed instruction: If the student makes many errors on a new task, return to a related task where accuracy is high - in this case, simple discrimination - and b the remedial program from that point. The rest of Figure 5 shows that the remedial path establi the "vo prerequisites individually, first one-trial learning, and then frequent reversals (for a discussion of some of the difficulties that can arise when one begins by teaching reversals, see Melivdne, Kledaras, lennaco, McDonald, & Stoddard, 1995), es The method for establishing one-trial learning parallels a method that is useful for teaching some types of new responses. For some tasks, the teacher may start by providing many prompts. For example, the student with mental retardation may need many prompts at first to zip a Zipper or tie her shoes. The teacher's job is to eliminate the prompts gradually while maintaining accurate performance. 792a} Ta ning fo Remecial Identity matching wihout reversals Invosuce Genersized identity Matching Figures Our pre bemeen ovo nonse, rn Sblish ene-trial learning begins by I cetaNs Pethaps with a fading procedure, oe suggested in the leftmost column of Figure 6. In each subsequent session, Siderent stimuli. White teaching thig seri h each discrimination problem ) gradually reduced, a process we have termed “fading Sut the fading." This proces number of different the first trial of each S+ displayed atone. Ulimately, after a large number of first prerequisite is mination problem continues to be Siflerent problems, if all but one of the fa One Ted. Stimulus control is establishes in one tral, as shown in the rightmmose column of Figure 6 One way to describe this “raining is a5 a programmed version Of learning set formation (c Bu Harlow, 19:9, 1959) x (K 80gvvvwe 4446 XXXXOCHE: @ ee KKHHA Too wl ssessssss: 99999 KH So da & 3 Next, the trial procedure is modified so that the teaching trial (the first trial for each problem) becomes the presentation of a sample stimulus, and the discrimination trial (ihe second trial) becomes the presentation of comparison stimuli. That is, tso simple-discrimination trials are combined to become one matching-to-sample trial. At this point, the student is performing a Version of identity matching where there are different stimuli on every trial (Mishkin & Delacour, 1975; Wright, Cook, Rivera, Sands, & Delius, 1988; see the discussion of "nonconditional identity matching” in Dube, Mcllvane & Green, 1992). This procedure jis illustrated in Figure 7. Because there are different stimuli on every trial, this task does not involve discrimination reversals. For 'mple, the stimulus function of the S+ on trial | never reverses so that that stimulus becomes S-, because that stimulus never appears again later in the session. 81final step is to add the reversals of comparison stimulus S+/S- functions. Reversals are Programmed steps in 20 training sessions. Figure 8 shows the type of bers in the left column represent the introduced gradually. over 2 changes thet occur at an early stage of this program, The num trial number within a session. for the match g Presented assin near the end of the session, with i function reversed, but along with a reversed Fae Ihe number of these repetitions increases over several sessions. Next, stimuli with ‘eversed functions begin to appear together on the same trial, as suggested in Figure 9. The number and frequency of reversals increases slowly, until Ukimately the same two stimuli appear on ex ery trial. At this point, the training goal shown ja Figure 4 has been achieved. For additional details onb aras, Tennaco, & Stoddard «Rocco, Kledatas, & MetIvane (1992) and MelIvane, Dube, Kledaras, | ten (1990) i no s. Tral se Ss ° 1 a » glo > F O : 9 a a ef & o @# » OO 8 » Sf A Arbitrary Matching to Sample The next step on the training path shown in Figure 2 is arbitrary matching to sample, illustrated in Figure 10. The term arbitrary matching is used because the relation between the sample and the correet choice is not based on the physical characteristics of the stimuli. There is nothing about the shape of a numeral that indicates the quantity of dots that it matches. These relations are determined by the reinforcement contingencies of a verbal community. Note here that the sample stimuli for arbitrary matching can be visual or auditory - another instance where a step along the training path expands the stimulus set that can be brought into the training situation, 83One Femedial path for arbitrary matching goes back to identity matching, and then applies san uhle stimulus shaping program (left portion of Figure 11). In sample stimulus shaping, we (acme tents matching and then make gradual changes in the fant of the sample stimulus (Zsgmont. Lazar, Dube, & Mellvane, 1992). A few steps from such a progran poctis Preram transforms the sample picture vfs dog to the first letter DOG. We have found programs like this to be eftecnve with many students iB instances of arbitrary matching in the experimental teaching sett i is how to make the technique more Wilkinson, 1995), 84Identity Matching CE \ “ _— \ Sample stimulus: (* °° haping program 5 Aibitary Matching Establishing even a minimal baseline of arbitrary matching makes it possible to expand the repertoire by the methods of exclusion and stimulus equivalence. For descriptive summaries of these methods sce Mellvane (1992); Mellvane, Dube, Green, & Serna (1993); Sidman (199+); Stromer, Mackay, & Stoddard (1992); Wilkinson, Dube, & Mcllvane (in press).as Matching to Sample with Multictement Stimuli i, where ulticlement sti mples vr more individual elements. Figure 12 shows fama ecomple of words and pictres. Hts important at this stage for all of the sample-stimulus ie aera istic ora any sn] OTe cree ea nce the top of Fiure 12 ate the effective stimuli then the student will make errors when trials like those below are added to a teaching session, Such problems are often observed in students with mental fetardation and autism, and they have been described in tts of restricted stimulus control, Experimental demonstrations were reported ovaas, Kocgel, & Schreibman, nown experiment Fhe next step on the training path is mates with 1 and comparisons are Yompounds made up of 160 & selective attention, oF stimu ion, oF stimulus overselectivity extensively by Lovaas c y Tagnneh bo Lovaas and his colleagues over 20 years 960 (68 1018: Nithelm & Lovaas, 1976: earlier, a related finding was reported in a well: Pigeons by Reynolds, 1961). - Matching to tsetement ‘Spies oa) 86Cae femedial option isa dilfcrentiol observing response. The student is trained to moke Cer dr EXPlict response to cach element of the sample stimulus. Such responses require ad LAND discrimination of cach clement. Wah printed words as samples, for example. a stodens ay has pres icusly learned the lettir names could te asked to spell the sample at ad before selecting a Comparison stimulus, A diagnostic tack that can be ed 10 evaluate stimulus ec stimuli is sh An in the top portion of Figure 13 (St nntrol by multiclement sample k is adapted from one first descrih mer, MelIane, Dube, & Mackay. 1993). This ped in the animal cognition literature (e g . D'Amato & Salmon, WOb4 Riley & Roablat, 1978), The student is given training with a delayed matching to sample task: Affer the student touches the multiclement sample stimulus, it disappears from the display and ‘sinale-ctement comparisons are presented, The student is reinforced for selecting. the Comparison that was one of the sample elements, From trial to trial, the sample stimulus varies, and the student cannot predict which sample clement will appear as a comparison scores indicate stimulus control by both elements. Thus, high accuracy HW accuracy scores for delayed matching to multielement samples (to 15) are not high, one option is a nonverbal form of a differential observing response, shown in the bottom portion of Figure 13. Before the sample stimulus is removed, the student perfurms an ‘entity match that requires stimulus control by both sample elements. This procedure is a matching-to-sample version of one that was originally reported in a simple-discrimination context (Allen & Fuqua, 1985: Schreibman, Charlop, & Koegel, 1982). Training like this has increased the Tange of effective sample elements for some of our subjects (Stromer & Dube, 1994), but this is an area where much work remains to be done in defining remedial paths. P portion of Figure 87Matching Delayed Matenrg to Munielement Samp! . “ta|- [aaa Dittrential Observing Response Pons L% Xo When multiclement control is reliable, there are additional options to expand the (for eran of Figure 14 shows one of several clara training procedures Sian wnder study (for related previcns sales: See Stromer & Mackay 1992; Stromer de 88Delayed Matching to Multielement Samples lad-C 7 oe. | — (oucK a 89- — YY Constructed-Response Matching to Sample vahich anil Bst step on the training path is constructed-response matching 19 sample, a task in Rush the student constructs multielement stimuli. Figure 15 shows an example of constructed. 1991) Teen ‘matching as it appears with our current computerized version of the task (Dube, elements. Ae ie 2 multiclement stimulus, and the eomparison array is a set of individual Position adjacent (aught selests comparison elements, they move via computer animation to a eatlice studies the sae ating sample element. The computer is not necessary, however. In Heters on bits of cardia g nulls 888 Pnted ona card the comparison stimuli were individual letters on top of the samale teat bee Scattered on a desktop, and the student placed the matching le letters (Mackay, 1985; Mackay & Sidman, 1984) Consiuctes Response ent Matching to Sanble sample wR? Students have tearne, ple Words may then be used 'd to perform o: w= Perform constructed-response id ube, McDonald, Melly rene Prompts to teach construed *» & Mackay, 1991). Training trials = response arbitrary matching 90consisting of a word and a picture, as shown in the top display in Figure 16. Then, over a series of constructed-response matching trials, the word-prompt is removed by gradually fading it out, as suggested in the lower portion of Figure 16 (ef. “vanishing the prompt” Skinner, 1968). (Figure 16 shows the sample stinguli only; in practice, a comparison array of individuals letters would also appear on every trial.) When the word has been completely removed, the resulting performance is constructed-response arbitrary matching, as shown in Figure 17. This task expands the network of discrimination skills to support spelling instiuction, A constructed-response repertoire also greatly increases the Mexibility of augmentative communication systems. Sample Stimulus Prompt Fading { o | ew fe] Constructo Response arsivary Matching toSernple 91i SY Concluding Remarks [hs taining path deseribed in this paper ilustates a teaching technology 10 establish a imatching-to-sample “repertoire Matching-to-sample procedures are often useful in special ratcation, particularly when students have severe disabilities that limit the range of available caecnse forms. OF course. matching o-sample training alone is not sufficient for a comprehensive action peiam It does, however, appear to have a Potentially important role in establishing stimulus-stimulus relations thee ate necessary for many forms of adaptive behav ior example shoul be emphasized that the remedial Steps discussed above are, in most cases, only I fa inet ansiver for every problon Often, a procedure that is successful for With recipies ting. met (8+ Dube et al, 1993), The tectmolon of teaching is not a (MetIvane, 1992) 11h cra cdot Mant 0 teach Task A, use Procedure B,” and so forth hose cos 8f telated goals, a set of related techniques, and principles to Guide the application of thac fi omtrol and respon po tHO88 techniques: Defe ie Seal, determine the necessary stimulus. SUS Prerequisites, find a stanine Fl SUMO pesformance, yore SMES Hi a Stating pain thar Within the limits of the student's 92ae hed document (Behavioral neces Division. (199 vision. (1994). Assessment handbook, Unpubl andbook, Unpublis! K. Shriver Center) Behavioral Sciences Division, f (Ed). (19800. nunieation: An intraduction, Rockuile Blackstone, S. W Au agmentitive © Association MD: American Speech on, DP. (198 HL, Rowtblat Language-Hearing 4). Cognitive processes im cebus monkeys: Im 3s. as). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum mal cognition (D1 omputers. D'Amato, M. BR. & Saline o TG. Bever, & HS Terrace (Eds ), Ani Dube, 9 . Dube, WV. (1991), Computer sofieare OT re pats cont esears w SITES Faperimental Ana eee Human Behasiar Baltele 9, 28-30. Dube, W Vv, Tennaco. F ML & Melivane. Ww. J (1993). Generalized identity matching to sample of ( Wo dimensional forms 10 individuals with intellectual disabilities. Research it Developmental Disabilities. 14 487-477. Dube. wiv. Jennace, F. M,, Roce p, Kledaras. ane, W 19 ee paced programmed instruction 1 Ee sratized. We Shing for person Guabilities. Journal Ge Behavioral Educ 2,295 wid HA 991) Constructed response Dube. a Medora of Applied ‘Behavior Analysis 14, 305- matching (© sample and uv ysis of generalized idemity matching oy, Mell re, W. J & OE : pute, We Tsai qures. The PSY , Gogical Record 21 P Lae : fearning set sychotogical review 56.516 nation of Fearnine awl fan ry. In _ Koch (Ed). sy chology Harlow: HF uFods for people pinto sth 1 no cr ML Review of Rese: stus control analysis and i st itis ), Intern Be rea inclicouat ssi, In N-W Ha th Taran with intellectual dis. Snare $5-109), Sant Die lental Retardation, Vol, 18 () wns Nt oe 4 analysis. In ALP 13-285). Baltimore, MD: RW Raiser & reon, G_& Sera, B : Metlnane, WJ, Duke, WV. Green, ( ernie Brooks 990), Teaching & Stoddard, LT. : faras, J.B, Tennaeo, F. M.& Stodh eee eed ‘ aac an mental retardation. Some problem p 3.296. Methane, WJ, Dub relational disci solutions. American Journal on Mental Retardation, 98, & Stoddard, L BuanenW-J-|Kicdaraetl Bi lenniett alent Declare nee cies, aaa Possible tinite on errs discrimination reversals. in individuals with seve Hon Mental Retardation, 99, 430-444 T. (1995), Some Fetandation. American Jon Mishkin, Mo & Delacour Journal of Experi cmory in the monkey 3 (1975). An analysis of short-term visual 1 Beh: ‘ital Psychology: Anim ior Processes, 1, 326-334 Reynolds, G. 8. (1961) Atention in the p Behavior. 4, 203.208 ov Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Riley. DUA. & Roitblat, HL. (ozs) Selective attention and related cognitive processe: pawns In 8. H. Hulse, H. Fowler, and Wk. Honig (Eds.), Ne processes in ani b 51). Hillsdale. NJ: Erlbaum tik, R.A & Joyner, (1983), Nonspecch communication s * imerentions with mentally retarded children, Te es in language disorders, 5, 66-8] ‘oman, La Charlop. M. H.& Kocgel, & L. (1982), ching autistic children to use extrac Journal of Experimental Chita Peycholom a6. 475-491, Ss RW (1998), stimutus-clas analyse Cx stinulus contol shaping procedures: Preliminary “Sis. Proceedings of the 27th Ann TMlinburg Conference on Research y ‘e Mental Retardation and Developmental Bonn es, $4 94erm EWS Walnncon, KOMP (1000) Mettoats faragsessing femture class membership in series fot peated stint D4 fecal the 8th Gniual Gathn bing Conference on Resorret and Mhcoey die Mental te tundition and Deyetopuarcantal Disabibities, 18 Hoston Authors ein MO CLOOD) Panivatence retatione and hehavion A researc ty story y for retarted cluleien srdation, Vol 2 (151 Sattian Mo® Stadion 11 C966) Peayraniming: perception and tear WN IC D1 (ab), Datermational Resiegs af Hecearete in Mental Be ON) Now Voth Neatenne I Shomer WE (6X) he tetinatagy wf torching New York Appleton Century Cet Shannen IEE (19S) Sctence and haanam betinsior New York: Maciltae hv of automated methods for teaching, severely retarded Steward, PP (O82) An anvestipat mental retarda vnbissduaals i NOR PTs (heb), tniterm (p 168.207) New Verk Academie Pe Wf researeh Stomer, R-& Dube, WV. (1994), Dilterentiat observing of complex sample stinaly and delayed F Analysis of Human Behasior Bulletio. matching performance \ bref report Bxpet 20 Stomer, Ro & Mackay, HA. (1092), Spelling and emergent picture-printed word relations cctablished with delayed entity matching to complex samples. Journal of Applied Behavior 3904 Analysis, 28, 89 Stromer, Ry Mackay, HL A & Stoddard, L. [) (1992). Classroon applications of stimulus Jal of Behavioral Education, 2, 225-256. equivalence technology. aw Stromer, R, Mellvane, W.J., Dube, W.V. & Mackay, H. A. (1993), Assessing control by elem Of comple stimuli in delayed matching to sample. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, $9, 83-102 tion of arbi 40, 51-66. Stromer, R-& Stromer, J.B, (1990a). The form Jex samples. The Psychological Recor Fy stimulus classes in matching to Stromer, R. & Stromer, J. B. (1990b), Matching to complex samples: Further study of arbitrary stimulus classes. The Psychological Record, 40, 505-516