Using instructive feedback to teach category names to children with autism.

Loughrey et al. (2014) worked with two children with autism. The kids were already in listener training. They had to touch the correct picture when the teacher said a word.

During these listener trials, the teacher quietly added the category name. For example, while the child touched 'apple,' the teacher said 'fruit.' No extra prompts or rewards were given for saying the category word.

Both children started saying the category names on their own. They had never been asked to name the group out loud. The extra information slipped in during listener work was enough to create new speaker words.

Jimenez-Gomez et al. (2022) extended the same trick to bilingual kids. They gave Spanish category names as instructive feedback while teaching English listener skills. The children later understood the Spanish words without any extra teaching time.

ILee et al. (2022) conceptually replicated the emergent-speaker effect. Their children with autism gained untaught intraverbal answers after listener training. The target paper shows category tacts; IK shows 'when?' answers. Same engine, different output.

Vascelli et al. (2024) used a different route but reached a similar place. They built fluent tact naming with precision teaching. All three participants then named categories in intraverbal probes. Fluency instead of instructive feedback, yet the expressive labels still emerged.

You can grow expressive language without extra trials. Slip the category name into listener work and watch the child start saying it. Try it next session: while the student touches 'dog,' quietly add 'animal.' Take data on any unprompted uses of the new word.