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Verbal Behavior and Communication Training

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International Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders

Part of the book series: Autism and Child Psychopathology Series ((ACPS))

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Abstract

Communication deficits are a defining characteristic of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Thus, it is not surprising that improving communication skills is the primary focus of virtually all early intervention programs for children with ASD. Many of the most effective teaching strategies for building language come from the field of applied behavior analysis (ABA) (see Matson, Benavidez, Compton, Paclawskyj, & Baglio, 1996 for a review). ABA-based intervention programs typically use well-established behavior-analytic teaching/intervention techniques such as positive reinforcement, shaping, prompting/prompt fading, chaining, extinction, imitation, modeling, and other behavioral procedures to teach communicative behavior to children with ASD.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation, Utah State University, Logan, UT, 84322-2865, USA

    Thomas S. Higbee & Tyra P. Sellers

Authors
  1. Thomas S. Higbee
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  2. Tyra P. Sellers
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Correspondence to Thomas S. Higbee .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, 70803, Louisiana, USA

    Johnny L. Matson

  2. City University of New York, Department of Psychology, Queens College, Flushing, 11367, New York, USA

    Peter Sturmey

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Higbee, T.S., Sellers, T.P. (2011). Verbal Behavior and Communication Training. In: Matson, J., Sturmey, P. (eds) International Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders. Autism and Child Psychopathology Series. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8065-6_23

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