ACQUISITION, MAINTENANCE, AND GENERALIZATION OF A CATEGORIZATION STRATEGY BY CHILDREN WITH AUTISM

Assessed the effects of a categorization strategy on the acquisition, maintenance, and generalization of the abilities of four children with autism to accurately complete uni-, bi-, and tridimensional sorting t asks. The independent variable was a categorization strategy involving uni-, bi-, and tridimensional categorization. The dependent variable was the number of items correctly sorted. The research involved a mult iple baseline across-behaviors design with clinical replications. Data indicate that categorization strategy training resulted in increased performance on uni-, bi-, and tridimensional sorting tasks by four chi ldren with autism. Three children showed stability with 100% accuracy on uni-, bi-, and tridimensional sorting activities; improvements on g eneralization probes associated with strategy training; and performanc e maintenance 2 months after the study. The results of the current res earch substantiate the worth of categorization strategy training for t hree children with autism.