Complete guide to Matching skills – speech therapy & ABA

Matching is a simple skill that lays the foundation for the development of receptive and expressive language. Luckily, it is a relatively easy skill to teach and to learn for children with Autism and other developmental delays.

Why teach matching skills to children in speech therapy or ABA?

Matching skills are great to improve memory, concentration, problem-solving and can help with many language skills such as enriching vocabulary, improving vocal expression, and understanding the concepts of same and different. To be able to successfully match pictures or objects, children have to use their ability to store, organize, retrieve and recall information.

Furthermore, matching helps children identify similar objects, so they can later discriminate objects that are different. Matching develops observational and increases children’s awareness of the details arround them.

Not paying attention to the fine details can manifest in many ways. Children might have difficulty in reading, math, identifying money, letters, and numbers. Besides, many social and communication skills require children to pay attention to small details and cues.

When is my child able to match

Here is an average progression of when children are able to master a specific matching skill or level

1. Early matching skills

Matching skills develop early in children’s life :

At 4 months, babies learn to match some objects with their distinctive sounds.
At 5-6 months, babies can distinguish vocal tones and start to recognize familiar objects, sounds, and people.
At 6-8 months, babies can recognize familiar people like uncles and grandparents.
At 10 months, babies can recognize people beyond their immediate family.

2. Color recognition

At around 12 months, children are able to identify similar colors and contrast different colors.

3. Basic matching

At 15 months, toddlers can differentiate objects that are exactly the same, from those that are different. At this age, children are able to recognize that two balls of the same color and size are similar. They are also able to comprehend that two cars with different colors or shapes are different.

4. Matching an object with a sound

At 18 months, children are able to match things with the sound they make. They love, at this age, to match animals with their sound.

5. Matching pictures

From the age of 19 months and up, children are able to learn matching pictures. Many memory games start at the age of two because, by this age, children can distinctively identify similar pictures.

Children with autism and other developmental delays might start mastering these skills later, but the progression of mastering them is usually the same. And that is the progression that we use to teach children with special needs to match in speech therapy and ABA.

Basic Matching Activities: How to teach matching to children in speech therapy or ABA?

While teaching matching skills, you have to follow a gradual progression from the easiest to the most complex matching activities. Using both the progression from step 1 through step 4 below, and the ABA therapy techniques provide children with the opportunity to learn matching skills easily and quickly.

ABA therapy lays the ground for learning starting from the easiest step to the most complex one using tools and techniques that help both the teacher and the student to reach their goal.

Step 1: Object-to-object matching

During this first phase of teaching matching to the child on the Autism spectrum or in Special Education, we use identical sets of objects that are familiar to the child and that can be easily matched. Such easily matched objects include cups, plates, bowls, baskets, cones, spoons, blocks, etc.

To teach your child to match objects, start with one object only on the table and ask your child to match the item in your hand to the item on the table using expressions like “match“, “put with same” or “find the match”.

You can use prompts such as modeling, pointing, or physical guidance to facilitate the response. Then gradually fade the prompts until the child is able to do it on himself.

As soon as the child can match the first object without error for 3 consecutive times without a prompt, you add a second object on the table, then a third.

Finally, put all three items at the same time and begin asking randomly for one or the other. This is called random rotation.

Step 2: Picture-to-picture matching

Once your child masters the 1st step and is able to match several objects together, your can start teaching him to match pictures together.

It’s important, during this second step, to use identical sets of images and use images that are familiar to your child to facilitate the learning.

You can download the pdf file for “matching identical pictures flashcards” below in the download section.

1. Matching identical pictures of objects, people, or animals.

Start with matching images of objects, people, and animals because they are easy to differentiate.

When teaching matching images, start with one image to match, then gradually increase the number of images to three, exactly like you did in step 1.

If your child struggles to match 3D objects on images, use flatter objects like plates, cookies, crayons, and books instead.

There are many games that practice this exact skill like Memory games or Lince games:

2. Matching identical pictures of actions or activities

For young children, children with Autism, or other special needs, differentiating actions and activities can be challenging.

The procedure is exactly the same as the previous matching exercise, start with one picture featuring an action or an activity, then gradually increase to two then 3 pictures at the same time.

Helping your child understand pictures portraying actions will prepare him to perform independent tasks such as teeth brushing, hand washing, and dressing up.

Step 3: matching Object-to-picture and Picture-to-object

Follow the same procedure as the previous steps. The only difference is that here, your child is supposed to match an object to the corresponding picture, or a picture to the corresponding object.

Step 4: matching Non-identical objects or pictures

This is the final and most difficult step to learn to match.

In order to teach your child to match non-identical objects or pictures, make sets of items that are visually similar but not identical. An example would be different kinds of cars or dolls.

It’s always easier de start with non-identical pictures then, after your child has mastered this skill, you can transition to matching non-identical objects.

Ask your child to match items using any of these previous expressions such as”put with the same”, or ask him “Where does this go?”, “put with [cars]”

If your child struggles with learning to match non-identical objects, you can use sets of simple objects that are different in color but similar in every other aspect (shape size, etc.). Once your child masters matching these items, you can transition into a more complex matching of non-identical items.

You can download the pdf file for “matching non-identical pictures Task Cards” by clicking on the link.

Step 5: Advanced Matching

Once basic matching skills are mastered for identical and non-identical items (objects and pictures), you can start working on matching items with subtle differences and more complex sorting tasks such as Associated pairs or things that go together.