Does Mastery of ABLA Level 6 Make it Easier for Individuals with Developmental Disabilities to Learn to Name Objects?

• Published in: Journal of behavioral education Vol. 18; no. 3; pp. 229 - 244
• Main Authors: Verbeke, Aynsley K., Martin, Garry L., Thorsteinsson, Jennifer R., Murphy, Colleen, Yu, C. T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer Science and Business Media, Inc 01.09.2009; Springer US; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Ability Identification; Ability tests; Adjustment (to Environment); Auditory Discrimination; Autism; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Child and School Psychology; Cognitive ability; Developmental Disabilities; Disabled persons; Discrimination learning; Evaluation; Experimentation; Intellectual disability; Language Acquisition; Language Skills; Learning; Learning and Instruction; Learning disabilities; Mental Retardation; Original Paper; Psychology; Tact; Training; Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales; Visual Discrimination; Vocabulary development; Developmental; Language development; Assessment of basic learning abilities test; Disabilities
• ISSN: 1053-0819; 1573-3513
• DOI: 10.1007/s10864-009-9087-4

Level 6 of the Assessment of Basic Learning Abilities (ABLA) assesses the ease or difficulty with which persons with developmental disabilities are able to learn a two-choice auditory-visual discrimination. We investigated whether participants who passed ABLA Level 6 (Group 1) would more readily learn object naming (vocal tacts) than those who failed ABLA Level 6 (Group 2). The groups were matched on the Communication Subscale of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale. Results indicated that Group 1 met mastery criterion for a significantly larger number of naming responses and in significantly fewer trials than Group 2. The implications for language training are discussed.