Time delay: a technique to increase language use and facilitate generalization in retarded children.

Researchers worked with six children who lived in a state facility. All had severe intellectual disability and almost no speech.

At lunch and dinner, staff waited 15 seconds after giving the plate. If the child did not ask for food, the adult showed the sign 'eat' and guided the child to copy it. No toys or tokens were used.

Four of the six kids started to ask for food on their own during the 15-second wait. The new skill moved to new servers and new meals with almost no extra teaching.

Two kids needed a shorter 5-second wait plus extra prompts before they spoke up. Once that worked, the team could stretch the pause back to 15 seconds.

Majdalany et al. (2016) and Xue et al. (2024) saw a different result with children with autism. In their tact training, even a 6-second or variable 4-8 second delay slowed learning. The kids in Bottjer et al. (1979) had intellectual disability, not autism, and the goal was requesting, not labeling. The task and population differences explain the gap.

Green et al. (1987) later looked at 26 studies and folded this 1979 paper into a larger pattern: time-delay prompting usually works fast, but long-term follow-up data are scarce. Their review supports the main finding while flagging the same maintenance gap.

McReynolds (1969) paired brief timeout with prompts to clean up noisy or off-task sounds during speech drills. Both studies show that a simple consequence schedule, paired with clear prompts, can jump-start language in minimally verbal children.

You can add a 15-second pause before helping during snack, play, or hygiene routines. No extra tokens or devices are needed. Start with a shorter wait if the learner never initiates, then stretch the pause as the child succeeds. Track whether the new requests show up with new staff and new settings so you know the skill is sticking.