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

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Abstract

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.

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Correspondence to Dean P. Smith.

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No funding was received towards the completion of this study.

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All procedures performed in the studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants involved in the study.

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Holly R. Smith is now at Branching Out, London, UK

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Smith, D.P., Eikeseth, S., Fletcher, S.E. et al. Emergent Intraverbal Forms may Occur as a Result of Listener Training for Children with Autism. Analysis Verbal Behav 32, 27–37 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40616-016-0057-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40616-016-0057-3

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