Below is a general skill sequence for helping learners receptively identify colors.
When you think about the ABCs of early learning, mastering colors seems like a rite of passage. If your learner's nailing color matching like a champ—that maybe your cue to up the ante. Start testing the waters with receptive identification, but only if they're already good at receptively identifying common items. Once they're cruising through picking out colors when asked, it could be a solid sign that they're ready for actually labeling colors. This is where things like transfer trials come into play, giving you a smooth transition to push their learning even further.
How this skill area relates to your assessments!
This skill area aligns with various assessments and their respective domains, with milestone and domain codes provided for reference. Additionally, DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for Autism are included to help clinicians identify how this skill area potentially supports medical necessity in relation to the diagnosis.
VB-MAPP (Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program)
Listener Responding, LR 5-M, Selects the correct item from an array of 4, for 20 different objects or pictures (e.g., Show me cat. Touch shoe).
Listener Responding, LR 7-M, Generalizes listener discriminations (LDs) in a messy array of 8, for three different examples of 50 items (e.g., The child can find three examples of a train.
Listener Responding, LR 11-M, Selects items by color and shape from an array of six similar stimuli, for 4 colors and 4 shapes (e.g., Find the red car. Find the square cracker.).
AFLS (Assessment of Functional Living Skills)
Dressing, DR28, Matches clothing styles and colors.
Clothing and Laundry, CL3, Sorts laundry by color/type.
Laundry, LY1, Sorts laundry by color.
DSM-V Diagnostic Criteria for Autism
A2, Deficits in nonverbal communicative behaviors used for social interaction, ranging, for example, from poorly integrated verbal and nonverbal communication; to abnormalities in eye contact and body language or deficits in understanding and use of gestures; to a total lack of facial expressions and nonverbal communication.
CDC’s Developmental Milestones
2 Years, Language/Communication, Points to things in a book when you ask, like “Where is the bear?”
30 Months, Cognitive, Shows he knows at least one color, like pointing to a red crayon when you ask, “Which one is red?”
4 Years, Cognitive, Names a few colors of items.
Treatment Plan Goal Ideas
This is a list of treatment plan goals. These are different from the goals you will find in the skill sequence below. Your treatment plan goals encompass any number of goals from the skill sequence. Sometime they will include multiple goals from the sequence (”Learner will label 5 toys”) and sometimes the treatment plan goal will be simply consist of a really important goal from the skill sequence (”Will label caregiver”). An analogy I like to use goes as follows: Each skill sequence goal (commonly known as a “target”) represent each stair in a flight of stairs. The treatment plan goal is the flight itself.
Treatment plan goal ideas for this particular skill area are as follows:
Learner will receptively identify five common color cards from a large array.
Learner will receptively identify ten common color cards from a large array.
Learner will receptively identify 15 common color cards from a large array.
Component Skills
Your learner may need to be fluent in these component skills first before introducing this goal/skill area. Component skills for this skill sequence may include skill areas that are fundamental to other areas. Fluency in the skill areas listed below may increase the likelihood that your learner will succeed in this skill sequence and those afterward.
Below is a possible skill sequence for working on increasing your learner’s ability to receptively ID common colors in an array of fifteen. Note that every learner is different and that you likely will need to tweak and vary some programming to their needs. Click the triangle icon to view the full description for each skill in the sequence/area.
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#1 Rec IDs Black (Ao15)
How to Run
Gain the attention and motivation of the learner.
Present an array of 15 color cards with one being the color black.
Ask the learner to “Show me black!”/”Point to black!”/”Give me black!”
Learner should select the black card from the array.
Reinforce the learner accordingly.
Additional Notes
As learner becomes more and more fluent in these areas, look to run this program with additional colors (maybe even all of them) to expedite mastery.
Working on these skills at the same time could help with goal mastery. Maybe your learner has mastered these skills already. Perhaps they are already listed as component skills above. That’s okay! Targeting other learning channels might help your learner.
These are the possible next steps for learners who have mastered, or are mastering, the skills listed above. Note that new skill areas may require fluency in other component skills not listed above. Also, you can introduce composite skill sequences prematurely to keep your learner progressing, as generativity may occur earlier than expected.
Receptively IDs Items Given Name and Color (Coming Soon!)
Candyland (Coming to Soon!)
Follow the link below to better understand component-composite analysis.
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Research and Resources
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Disclaimer
Consistent with ethical obligations outlined by the Behavior Analysis Certification Board (BACB), users acknowledge that goal selection/direction is the responsibility of the BCBA. Users understand that goals should be tailored to the learner while ultimately involving the input of clients/stakeholders. Users understand their ethical obligations to the client/stakeholder concerning the selection, implementation, design, and minimization of risk regarding behavior change interventions as outlined in BACB Code. As such, this skill sequence serves as a general framework for generating ideas around this particular skill area and not as an assessment or curriculum.
Problem? Question? Suggestion? We want to hear from you!
Intro to Scanning 
Intro to Matching (Visual Perception) 
Following Gestures
Matches Common Items in 2D Array 1.0 (Identical)
Matches Colors in 2D Array
Receptively IDs Common Items in 2D Array
Labels Common Colors in 2D