Comparing the effects of echoic prompts and echoic plus picture prompts on establishing intraverbal behavior for children with autism

The purpose of this study was to compare the efficiency of two prompt strategies (echoic versus echoic + picture) on establishing the intraverbal behavior (i.e., question answering) for three 4-year-old children with ASD in China. All three children had mand, tact, and echoic behavior in their repertoire, but had a limited intraverbal repertoire. An adapted alternating treatments design combined with a multiple probe across two behaviors (two question sets) was used. Results indicated that both strategies were effective to teach and maintain question answering for all three children. However, the echoic prompt strategy required fewer trials to criterion than the echoic plus picture strategy, suggesting the efficiency of echoic prompts to establish intraverbal repertoire for these children.