Multiple Exemplar Instruction (MEI): Training for Generalization

Multiple Exemplar Instruction (MEI) is a powerful teaching procedure designed to promote generativity in verbal behavior by establishing functional interdependence between speaker and listener repertoires and across verbal operants. Unlike Multiple Exemplar Training (MET), which primarily targets stimulus and response generalization, MEI involves rapid rotation of trials across different verbal operants (e.g., tacts, mands, echoics, listener responses) for the same stimulus set. This presentation will review the conceptual distinctions between MEI and MET, summarize empirical findings on MEI’s effectiveness, and provide practical recommendations for implementing MEI to optimize language intervention for individuals with developmental disabilities. Attendees will gain actionable strategies for designing MEI programs that foster generative language repertoires and incidental learning.

1. 1Differentiate MEI from MET by describing the procedural and functional distinctions between these two approaches and their respective outcomes in promoting generalization and generativity. Identify the role of MEI in establishing bidirectional naming and functional interdependence between speaker and listener repertoires, and explain why these skills are considered behavioral cusps for language development. Review an MEI-based instructional sequence that incorporates rapid rotation of verbal operants and motivating operations to promote the emergence of untaught verbal behavior and complex language skills.