H developmental disabilities have been reviewed in Lovaas, Koegel, and Schreibman

H developmental disabilities have been reviewed in Lovaas, Koegel, and Schreibman (1979), and the literature since that time has been summarized in recent reviews by Ploog (2010) and Brown and Bebko (2012). Overselectivity has been found in visual, auditory, and tactile stimulus modalities. Perhaps because of Lovaas and colleagues’ study population, overselectivity is often associated with autism. While it is certainly observed in individuals with autism, it is also observed in individuals with intellectual disabilities who have not been diagnosed on the GS-5816 dose autism spectrum. For example, Dickson, Wang, Lombard, and Dube (2006) assessed overselectivity in students at get BAY1217389 residential schools for individuals with developmental disabilities. Overselectivity on at least one test occurred in 43 of those participants who did not met the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) diagnostic criterion for a classification of autism. Overselectivity has also been reported in school-aged children with learning disabilities but no intellectual disability (Bailey, 1981) and in children with hearing impairment and concomitant difficulties with communicative competence, as reported by a speech pathologist, audiologist, and/or classroom teacher (Fairbank, Powers, Monaghan, 1986). Although there is considerable variability among studies in the methods, the literature indicates inverse relations between the prevalence and severity of overselectivity and intellectual level, as expressed on standardized IQ scores, and developmental level, as expressed in mental age equivalence scores. As an example of the latter, Dickson, Deutsch, Wang, and Dube (2006) reported the results of overselectivity assessments using matchingto-sample methods with multi-element stimuli (procedure description below) in 70 individuals attending residential special-education schools. Before the test forAugment Altern Commun. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2015 June 01.Dube and WilkinsonPageoverselectivity, participants were given preliminary tests to evaluate prerequisite performances such as accurate matching with single-element stimuli. Twenty-one of the 70 participants failed the pre-tests and the mean Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test – Revised mental age equivalent (MEA) score for these individuals was 3.70 years. Results indicated overselectivity for 35 participants and mean MAE for this group was 5.28 years. Finally, the results showed no overselectivity for 14 participants with mean MAE of 7.44 years. Thus, MAE scores were related to both matching-to-sample performance and stimulus overselectivity. Overselectivity Problem Areas in Special Education One problem associated with overselectivity in special-education settings is sometimes referred to as “prompt dependency” (Hume, Loftin, Lantz, 2009; MacDuff, Krantz, McClannahan, 2001). While teaching, it is sometimes useful to provide supplemental cues to prompt new learning. For example, a teacher might model the use of an AAC device, or point to the correct alternative during initial stages of teaching. When prompts are used, they must at some point be withdrawn. If the student has attended only to the prompt (e.g., the teacher’s pointing finger) and not to the teaching materials (e.g., the AAC symbol), then errors will occur when those prompts are no longer present (e.g., Schreibman, Charlop, Koegel, 1982). The body of research by Reichle and colleagues on promoting independent acts and the conditional use of requests f.H developmental disabilities have been reviewed in Lovaas, Koegel, and Schreibman (1979), and the literature since that time has been summarized in recent reviews by Ploog (2010) and Brown and Bebko (2012). Overselectivity has been found in visual, auditory, and tactile stimulus modalities. Perhaps because of Lovaas and colleagues’ study population, overselectivity is often associated with autism. While it is certainly observed in individuals with autism, it is also observed in individuals with intellectual disabilities who have not been diagnosed on the autism spectrum. For example, Dickson, Wang, Lombard, and Dube (2006) assessed overselectivity in students at residential schools for individuals with developmental disabilities. Overselectivity on at least one test occurred in 43 of those participants who did not met the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) diagnostic criterion for a classification of autism. Overselectivity has also been reported in school-aged children with learning disabilities but no intellectual disability (Bailey, 1981) and in children with hearing impairment and concomitant difficulties with communicative competence, as reported by a speech pathologist, audiologist, and/or classroom teacher (Fairbank, Powers, Monaghan, 1986). Although there is considerable variability among studies in the methods, the literature indicates inverse relations between the prevalence and severity of overselectivity and intellectual level, as expressed on standardized IQ scores, and developmental level, as expressed in mental age equivalence scores. As an example of the latter, Dickson, Deutsch, Wang, and Dube (2006) reported the results of overselectivity assessments using matchingto-sample methods with multi-element stimuli (procedure description below) in 70 individuals attending residential special-education schools. Before the test forAugment Altern Commun. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2015 June 01.Dube and WilkinsonPageoverselectivity, participants were given preliminary tests to evaluate prerequisite performances such as accurate matching with single-element stimuli. Twenty-one of the 70 participants failed the pre-tests and the mean Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test – Revised mental age equivalent (MEA) score for these individuals was 3.70 years. Results indicated overselectivity for 35 participants and mean MAE for this group was 5.28 years. Finally, the results showed no overselectivity for 14 participants with mean MAE of 7.44 years. Thus, MAE scores were related to both matching-to-sample performance and stimulus overselectivity. Overselectivity Problem Areas in Special Education One problem associated with overselectivity in special-education settings is sometimes referred to as “prompt dependency” (Hume, Loftin, Lantz, 2009; MacDuff, Krantz, McClannahan, 2001). While teaching, it is sometimes useful to provide supplemental cues to prompt new learning. For example, a teacher might model the use of an AAC device, or point to the correct alternative during initial stages of teaching. When prompts are used, they must at some point be withdrawn. If the student has attended only to the prompt (e.g., the teacher’s pointing finger) and not to the teaching materials (e.g., the AAC symbol), then errors will occur when those prompts are no longer present (e.g., Schreibman, Charlop, Koegel, 1982). The body of research by Reichle and colleagues on promoting independent acts and the conditional use of requests f.