Using Equivalence-Based Instruction to Teach Value-Congruent Action Identification to Autistic Teens

Abstract The current clinical evaluation used a multiple baseline across participants design to assess the effectiveness of intraverbal training in promoting value-congruent action identification among three autistic teenagers. Participants were taught to verbally relate value-congruent actions (A) to outcomes (B), and outcomes (B) to participant-identified values (C), with tests for emergent C-A relations. Two participants demonstrated emergent value-to-action intraverbals without direct training, while one required exemplar training for partial emergence. These findings support the use of relational training to establish derived intraverbals linking values to verbal identification of value-congruent actions. The approach may be especially useful in neurodiversity-affirming clinical practice to support clients in identifying their own value-congruent actions.