Acquisition of sign language by autistic children. III: Generalized descriptive phrases.
Prompting and fading quickly teaches nonverbal kids with autism to generalize new action-object sign phrases, but you still need incidental teaching to make the signs functional in daily talk.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Four nonverbal kids with autism took part. None could speak or sign in sentences.
The team used a quick prompting and fading package. They taught action-object sign phrases like "eat cookie" or "throw ball".
Sessions happened at a table. Adults showed pictures, gave gentle prompts, then faded help until the child signed alone.
What they found
Every child learned new two-word sign phrases in just a few lessons.
Kids also used the signs for new picture pairs they had never seen before. Generalization happened fast.
How this fits with other research
Rosenthal et al. (1980) showed that spontaneous spoken mands need explicit training under natural cues. Aman et al. (1987) matched that pattern: kids learned the signs quickly, but extra incidental teaching was needed to make the signs pop out in real talk.
Hattier et al. (2011) repeated the same prompting-fading recipe to teach "Where's [toy]?" mands. Both studies got the same brisk acquisition and broad generalization, proving the method works across different response forms.
Carnett et al. (2016) took the idea further. They swapped sign language for iPad voice output and still got strong generalization, showing the teaching logic holds for new tech tools.
Why it matters
If you have nonverbal learners who need phrases now, use prompting plus fading. You will see new signs in days, not weeks. Plan extra steps like natural environment teaching or time delay so the signs show up when the child really wants something. The same steps will work if you later move to an iPad or other device.
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Join Free →Pick two favorite objects, show a picture, prompt the sign phrase once, then fade help across trials until the child signs alone.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Sign language training has emerged as a viable alternative to speech for those autistic children who remain nonverbal in spite of remediation efforts. Yet the variables responsible for the acquisition of specific signing skills have not been fully investigated. The present study was undertaken to validate experimentally a portion of a general language intervention program developed by the authors. Specifically, we focused on descriptive signing that involved action-object phrases. Four autistic children were successfully taught such phrases following an intervention composed of prompting, fading, stimulus rotation, and differential reinforcement. After being trained on a small number of action-object phrases, the children displayed skill generalization to new situations. The results were discussed with respect to the likely need for added incidental teaching to bring about communicative use of the skills taught.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 1987 · doi:10.1007/BF01495057