The Effects of the Interspersal of Related Responses on the Emergence of Intraverbals for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder
Quick mastered tact and listener warm-ups can unlock untrained answers to function questions in kids with autism.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Two children with autism joined the study.
Before asking any new questions, the team mixed in quick sets of old skills.
Kids touched pictures when they heard the name (listener).
They also named pictures (tact).
Right after those warm-ups, the adult asked untrained questions like "What do you do with a spoon?"
The team watched if the child answered without being taught.
What they found
Both kids started giving correct untrained answers right away.
The old tasks acted like a spark for new intraverbals.
Later, when the team stopped the warm-ups and only taught function tacts, the new answers stayed strong.
No extra intraverbal drills were needed.
How this fits with other research
Knutson et al. (2019) looks opposite at first glance.
They showed that skipping mastered-task warm-ups gives faster skill growth.
The key difference is the goal: Knutson wanted quick acquisition of new targets, while Shillingsburg wanted untrained intraverbals to pop out.
Both can be true—skip warm-ups when you need speed, add them when you want emergence.
Tullis et al. (2021) used tact and match-to-sample plus instructive feedback in small groups.
They also saw new intraverbals appear, showing the effect holds across setups.
Smith et al. (2016) and LaLonde et al. (2020) got the same leap with simple bingo-style listener games.
Together, the papers say: warm up with easy verbal tasks and emergent answers often follow.
Why it matters
You can save hours of direct intraverbal drilling.
Start a session with two-minute bursts of mastered listener and tact trials.
Then slide in the new "what-do-you-do" or "where-do-you-find" questions.
If the child answers, reinforce and keep going.
If not, you only lost moments, not a whole lesson.
Use this trick when you want flexible, real-world language without extra teaching time.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The present study evaluated the emergence of intraverbals for 2 children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Prior to baseline, both children demonstrated tact, tact function, listener, and listener by function responses with 12 pictorial stimuli, yet they failed to demonstrate intraverbals related to the function of the items (e.g., "What do you do with [item]?" and "What do you use to [function]?"). Following baseline, previously mastered related tact, tact function, listener, and listener by function tasks were presented prior to probe trials for the target item-function and function-item intraverbals. Results showed that interspersal of the related tasks for a subset of the intraverbals led to the emergence of untrained item-function and function-item intraverbals for both participants. In Experiment 2, the long-term effects of this remedial training on the emergence of untrained intraverbals was evaluated as new tact and listener responses were trained. Results of Experiment 2 showed that tact function and listener by function training was sufficient to establish the emergence of item-function and function-item intraverbals in the absence of related-task interspersal. These results are discussed in relation to current explanations for emergent responding.
The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 2019 · doi:10.1007/s40616-019-00110-4