| Language acquisition typically occurs with receptive mastery preceding expressive mastery. However, studies assessing children with mental retardation indicate expressive training is the most efficient training modality. While language interventions are of primary necessity for children with autism, no study has addressed this question comprehensively for this population. The current project assessed whether: (a) generalization between the modalities occurs; (b) individual children demonstrate a consistent pattern of generalization; (c) different training modalities influence acquisition rates; (d) the child's language ability influences the patterns of generalization; and (e) expressive mastery can occur prior to receptive mastery. Using a multiple baseline design, six children with autism were taught language targets in either the receptive or expressive modality, with the order of training across children and targets randomized. Generalization and trials to mastery were evaluated. The findings suggest that (a) children with autism demonstrate a variety of patterns of generalization, receptive to expressive, expressive to receptive, or none, but they tend to demonstrate a greater degree of expressive to receptive generalization; (b) individual children show some, but not absolute, consistency in their patterns of generalization; (c) training trials to mastery fluctuated across targets and participants without patterns, indicating that training in one modality may not be consistently more efficient than the other; (d) children with less language ability demonstrated less receptive to expressive generalization, and (e) expressive mastery can occur prior to or without receptive mastery. Language modalities may be analyzed by their modes of stimulus input and response output, and generalization may occur when the relevant modes of input and output are present in a training situation. Language training should be individualized for each child, with the optimal training modality established. However, generalization cannot be assumed to occur, so both modalities must be assessed for mastery, if not trained. Expressive to receptive generalization may not so readily occur when the receptive tasks are not singular language elements, but are more complex. Teaching complex receptive language must be one target of language training if optimal gains are to be seen. |
