9.25 Naming and Equivalence Classes

Multiple exemplar training for relational responding is particularly prevalent as we teach children to name the people, places, objects, and events around them. We repeatedly reinforce responding to the written or spoken name of an object, person, or event as though it is that object, person, or event. We teach children to respond to words and the things to which they refer as though there is a relation of sameness or similarity between them, even though they typically are not physically similar. And we teach them to do this only when offered contextual cues to do so (for example, being told “This is a taco.”).