Using a Lag Schedule of Reinforcement to Increase Response Variability in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders
Lag 1 or 2 plus a quick echoic prompt and a picture card teach autistic kids to give fresh, natural answers to everyday questions in days, not months.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Olin et al. (2020) tested Lag 1 and Lag 2 schedules on social questions for children with autism. They added echoic prompts and small picture cards to help the kids think of new answers.
The team used a changing-criterion design. Each session the child had to give a different answer before earning praise or a token.
What they found
The kids quickly started giving fresh, non-repeated answers. The new answers stayed high even four weeks later.
No rote scripts were needed after the first few trials. The children answered on their own and smiled more during turn-taking.
How this fits with other research
Poppes et al. (2016) and Gardner et al. (2009) already showed that lag schedules boost verbal variety in autism. Olin adds echoic prompts and visuals, making the jump faster and friendlier.
Cohrs et al. (2017) used Lag 2 and Lag 4 after teaching three examples in group social-skills class. Olin skips the long exemplar training and still gets quick gains, showing the prompt package can stand alone.
Parilla et al. (2023) later moved the same idea into teens’ homes with simple scripted prompts. The chain shows the method keeps working as kids grow and as sessions move to the kitchen table.
Why it matters
You can run this in any clinic or home room. Pick a social question like “What did you do last night?” Set a Lag 1 rule: the child must say something new to get a point. Give a quick echoic hint or show a picture if they stall. Most kids need only one or two sessions to shift from “played iPad” to “built a castle, fed the dog, watched space videos.” Flexible answers help peers stay interested and cut down on robotic conversation, a common parent worry.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Lag reinforcement schedules have been shown in previous research to be an effective intervention for teaching verbal and nonverbal response variability to individuals with developmental disabilities. In more recent research, variability itself has been considered a reinforceable behavior in its own right (Susa & Schlinger, The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 18, 125-130, 2012). Lag x schedules of reinforcement can be used to teach variability by using contingencies that require responses to differ from previous responses. The present study extended Susa and Schlinger's, The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 18, 125-130, (2012) research by using 3 social questions instead of 1 in a random rotation and included probes to test for generality. A changing-criterion design was used to evaluate the results with one 11-year-old female participant diagnosed with autism. During baseline, the participant provided little variability, with rote responses. During the Lag 1 and Lag 2 phases, appropriate variable verbal responding increased with the use of echoic prompts, visual aids, and an error correction procedure. Further, the results also showed that the participant learned to vary her responses by demonstrating the ability to emit 11 novel prompted responses and 13 spontaneous responses. In addition, the participant was able to retain the skills learned in a maintenance probe conducted 4 weeks postintervention.
The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 2020 · doi:10.1007/s40616-020-00129-y