Toward Efficiency and Effectiveness: Comparing Equivalence-based Instruction to Progressive Discrete Trial Teaching

Research has found equivalence-based instruction (EBI) to be effective and efficient, with recent research extending these finding to individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). EBI has also been compared with more traditional approaches to teaching, such as traditional lectures, reading assignments, and video lectures. However, the authors are unaware of any comparisons of EBI to other similar behavior analytic approaches such as discrete trial teaching (DTT). The purpose of the first experiment was to compare EBI to progressive DTT using an adapted alternating treatments design with typically developing adults. Experiment 2 compared the two teaching methods with children diagnosed with ASD. The teaching approaches were evaluated with respect to mastery of trained relations, emergence of untrained relations for the EBI condition, and participant preferences. Results of the two experiments found that both teaching methods were effective, progressive DTT was found to be more efficient for six participants, EBI was found to be more efficient for two participants, and overall progressive DTT was found to be more preferred by participants.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40617-022-00687-8.