Matrix training is an intervention that systematically programs for the occurrence of generative outcomes, mostly in the area of language. A literature search identified studies that evaluated matrix training with individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Based on 12 reviewed studies, we asked questions regarding participant characteristics, targeted skills, matrix designs, evidence-based teaching strategies, percentage of learning that occurred through direct teaching and recombinative generalization, and the quality of the studies. With 29 total participants, mostly preschool and elementary ages, the most common teaching strategy implemented was a discrete trial training paradigm targeting language development. Overall, findings suggest that matrix training produced an average of 69% of learning without direct teaching across the areas of language, play, sentence construction, and spelling.
AlessiG. (1987). Generative strategies and teaching for generalization. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 5, 15–27.
2.
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.
3.
AxeJ. B. (2008). Conditional discrimination in the intraverbal relation: A review and recommendations for future research. Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 24, 159–174.
4.
*AxeJ. B.SainatoD. M. (2010). Matrix training of preliteracy skills with preschoolers with autism. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 43, 635–652.
*CurielE. S. L.SainatoD. M.GoldsteinH. (2016). Matrix training of receptive language skills with a toddler with autism spectrum disorder: A case study. Education and Treatment of Children, 39, 95–109.
7.
*DauphinM.KinneyE. M.StromerR. (2004). Using video-enhanced activity schedules and matrix training to teach sociodramatic play to a child with autism. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 6, 238–250.
8.
EsperE. A. (1925). A technique for the experimental investigation of associative interference in artificial linguistic material. Language Monographs, 1, 5–47.
9.
EzellH. K.GoldsteinH. (1989). Effects of imitation on language comprehension and transfer to production in children with mental retardation. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 54, 49–56.
10.
*FramptonS. E.WymerS. C.HansenB.ShillingsburgM. A. (2016). The use of matrix training to promote generative language with children with autism. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 49, 869–883.
11.
GoldsteinH. (1983). Recombinative generalization: Relationships between environmental conditions and the linguistic repertoires of language learners. Analysis and Intervention in Developmental Disabilities, 3, 279–293.
12.
GoldsteinH. (1984). Effects of modeling and corrected practice on generative language learning of preschool children. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 49, 389–398.
13.
GoldsteinH.AngeloD.MousetisL. (1987). Acquisition and extension of syntactic repertoires by severely mentally retarded youth. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 8, 549–574.
14.
GoldsteinH.MousetisL. (1989). Generalized language learning by children with severe mental retardation: Effects of peers’ expressive modeling. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 22, 245–259.
15.
HartB.RisleyT. R. (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experience of young American children. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.
16.
HuttenlocherJ.HaightW.BrykA.SelzerM.LyonsT. (1991). Early vocabulary growth: Relation to language input and gender. Development Psychology, 27, 236–248.
17.
IngvarssonE. T.KramerR. L.CarpC. L.PétursdóttirA. I.MaciasH. (2016). Evaluation of a blocked-trials procedure to establish complex stimulus control over intraverbal responses in children with autism. Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 32, 205–224. doi:10.1007/s40616-016-0071-5
18.
*KinneyE. M.VedoraJ.StromerR. (2003). Computer-presented video models to teach generative spelling to a child with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Positive Behavior Supports, 5, 22–29.
19.
KisamoreA. N.KarstenA. M.MannC. C. (2016). Teaching multiply controlled intraverbals to children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 49, 826–847.
20.
KoegelR. L.KoegelL. K.McNerneyE. K. (2001). Pivotal areas in intervention for autism. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 30, 19–32. doi:10.1207/S15374424JCCP3001_4
21.
*KohlerK. T.MalottR. W. (2014). Matrix training and verbal generativity in children with autism. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 30, 170–177.
22.
LightP.WatsonJ.RemingtonB. (1990). Beyond the single sign: The significance of sign order in a matrix-based approach to teaching productive sign combinations. Mental Handicap Research, 3, 161–178.
23.
*MacManusC.MacDonaldR.AhearnW. H. (2015). Teaching and generalizing pretend play in children with autism using video modeling and matrix training. Behavioral Interventions, 30, 191–218.
24.
MineoB. A.GoldsteinH. (1990). Generalized learning of receptive and expressive action-object responses by language-delayed preschoolers. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 55, 665–678.
25.
MoherD.LiberatiA.TetzlaffJ.AltmanD. G., & The PRISMA Group. (2009). Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: The PRISMA statement. PLoS Medicine, 6(7), 1–6. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000097
26.
MuellerM. M.OlmiD. J.SaundersK. J. (2000). Recombinative generalization of within-syllable units in prereading children. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 33, 515–531.
27.
*NaoiN.YokoyamaK.YamamotoJ. (2006). Matrix training for expressive and receptive two-word utterances in children with autism. Japanese Journal of Special Education, 43, 505–518.
28.
National Autism Center. (2015). Evidence-based practice and autism in the schools (2nd ed.). Randolph, MA: Author.
29.
*PauwelsA. A.AhearnW. H.CohenS. J. (2015). Recombinative generalization of tacts through matrix training with individuals with autism spectrum disorder. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 31, 200–214.
30.
RemingtonB.WatsonJ.LightP. (1990). Beyond the single sign: A matrix-based approach to teaching productive sign combinations. Mental Handicap Research, 3, 33–50.
31.
RomskiM. A.RuderK. F. (1984). Effects of speech and speech and sign instruction on oral language learning and generalization of action + object combinations by Down’s syndrome children. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 49, 293–302.
32.
SundbergM. L. (2008). Verbal behavior milestones assessment and placement program: The VB-MAPP. Concord, CA: AVB Press.
33.
*TanjiT.NoroF. (2011). Matrix training for generative spelling in children with autism spectrum disorder. Behavioral Interventions, 26, 326–339.
34.
VedoraJ.BarryT.Ward-HornerJ. C. (2017). An evaluation of differential observing responses during receptive label training. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 10, 290–295. doi:10.1007/s40617-017-0188-6
35.
*WilsonE. R.WineB.FittererK. (2017). An investigation of the matrix training approach to teach social play skills. Behavioral Interventions, 32, 278–284.
36.
WongC.OdomS. L.HumeK.CoxA. W.FettigA.KucharczykS.. . . SchultzT. R. (2013). Evidence-based practices for children, youth, and young adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Chapel Hill: Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, Autism Evidence-Based Practice Review Group, The University of North Carolina.
37.
*YamamotoJ.MiyaT. (1999). Acquisition and transfer of sentence construction in autistic students: Analysis by computer-based teaching. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 20, 355–377.
