The Impact of an Intraverbal Webbing Procedure on the Emergence of Advanced Intraverbal Skills in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Alzrayer (2020) taught three children with autism to answer fill-in questions using a web of linked categories. The trainer asked questions like 'Apple is a ___' and 'A fruit that is red is ___'. Kids practiced many links until the web was tight.

The study used a multiple-baseline design across participants. Each child started the webbing at a different time to show the teaching caused the gains.

All three children learned the trained fill-ins quickly. They also began to answer new questions they had never been taught, both convergent and divergent types. The new answers appeared without extra drills.

The emergent skills stayed high when the trainer checked again later. Kids could now flexibly talk about features and categories they had only heard during the web.

GBrodhead et al. (2019) tried FFC prompts a year earlier. Their kids gave more answers, but the answers did not spread to new questions. Alzrayer’s webbing fixed that gap by linking many categories at once.

Thakore et al. (2022) added fluency timings to intraverbal training. Their children mastered skills even faster and showed big generalization. Their package builds on Alzrayer’s idea and may now be the cleaner first choice.

Smith et al. (2016) and LaLonde et al. (2020) got emergent intraverbals with a bingo game instead of webbing. Same outcome, different road — you can pick the route that fits your client’s mood.

If a child can name items but struggles with flexible ‘wh’ and feature talk, try a quick webbing probe. Draw five items the child loves, link them by color, function, and class, then ask both forward and backward questions. You may see new intraverbals appear within one session, giving you a fast path to richer conversation without extra drills.