Emergent Intraverbal Forms may Occur as a Result of Listener Training for Children with Autism

The purpose of the present study was to assess whether intraverbal behavior, in the form of answers to questions, emerges as a result of listener training for five children diagnosed with autism. Listener responses were targeted and taught using prompting and differential reinforcement. Following successful acquisition of listener responses, the intraverbal form of the response was probed. Data were evaluated via a nonconcurrent multiple-baseline design that included a control series. Results showed listener-to-intraverbal transfer for four of the five participants. One participant required additional teaching that involved tacting the items selected during listener training.