A Comparison of Sequential and Simultaneous Tact Instruction: A Pilot Study

Over 20% of the population in the United States is bilingual, and yet limited behavior analytic research has investigated procedures that promote bilingual language acquisition. In this study, we taught two children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to tact pictures in English and their heritage language using sequential and simultaneous instruction procedures. We also evaluated the emergence of untrained bidirectional intraverbals, listener responses, and stimulus generalization. In the sequential instruction condition, the participant learned to tact items in one language before learning to tact the same items in a second language. In the simultaneous condition, the participant learned to tact items in two languages concurrently. Both participants' responding met the mastery criterion under the sequential instruction condition and the discontinuation criterion under the simultaneous instruction condition. Further, the highest percentage of correct emergent responding was demonstrated for listener behavior, followed by stimulus generalization and bidirectional intraverbals. This study provides a framework for future research to evaluate the efficacy and efficiency of instructional procedures for bilingual language acquisition in children with ASD.