Effects of a Curriculum-Based Intervention on the Increments of Stimulus Control for Bidirectional Naming and Student Learning

In two experiments, I tested the effects of a curriculum-based intervention on preschool students’ degree of stimulus control for bidirectional naming (BiN) across familiar and unfamiliar word-picture relation levels of complexity. In Experiment I, I used a multiple probe design to test the effects of the curriculum-based intervention on the degree of BiN for familiar word-picture relations. All four participants in the first experiment demonstrated an increase in the degree of BiN for familiar picture-word relation, with three participants meeting the incidental BiN criterion level of 80% across three response topographies. In Experiment II, I compared the curriculum-based intervention and repeated novel naming experience (RNNE) on preschool students’ degree of BiN and learning. The dependent variables were 1) degree of stimulus control for BiN across familiar and unfamiliar word-picture relations 2) learn units to criterion across math and reading 3) percentage of correct responses to unconsequated post-math and reading instruction probes. I investigated whether the method of acquisition of BiN, a curriculum based or RNNE, has differential effects on the dependent variables. Three out of four participants who received the curriculum-based intervention acquired BiN for picture-word relations following a novel experience, while one out of four participants under the RNNE condition acquired BiN. The results of the study suggest that a curriculum-based instruction can simultaneously induce BiN while teaching academic objectives to preschool students. Experiment II also implicates the effects of a technology-mediated intervention on developing academic and verbal behavior development cusps even in young children.