The Emergence of Untrained Relations in Individuals with Autism and Other Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: A Systematic Review of the Recent Literature

An increasing number of investigations have described various interventions to promote the emergence of derived responding within the relation of sameness for individuals with autism and other intellectual and developmental disabilities. Systematic searches identified 53 studies published since 2013 that met inclusion criteria. These studies were analyzed according to their participants, assessment methods, experimental design, content taught, setting, teaching procedures, emergent responses, outcomes, and reliability measures. The quality of the studies was measured using the single-case analysis and research framework (SCARF). While the results of this review indicate that many individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities can demonstrate the emergence of untrained relations across a wide range of instructional content and teaching methodologies, the quality and rigor of the literature limits the conclusions that can be made, leading to recommendations for future research.