Increasing the vocalizations of individuals with autism during intervention with a speech-generating device.
A tiny vocal prompt paired with SGD use can spark first spoken words in minimally verbal kids with autism.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team worked with four children with autism who had almost no spoken words. Each child already used a speech-generating device, or SGD, to ask for things.
The study added two quick steps: an adult gave a short vocal prompt like "Say ball," then gave the item only if the child made any speech sound for it. The SGD stayed available the whole time.
What they found
Three of the four children started making word-like sounds after the new steps were added. These sounds showed up even when the SGD was later taken away.
The fourth child did not gain new vocals but kept using the device.
How this fits with other research
Bishop et al. (2020) ran almost the same plan and got the same lift in vocals, showing the effect is steady across kids and settings.
Kaneda et al. (2025) took a twist: they turned off the SGD voice output and still saw more spoken requests. This extends the idea that vocals can grow even when the device is quieter.
Muharib et al. (2021) kept the device on but made reinforcers bigger. Their school-age group also spoke more, giving a conceptual match with older kids.
Why it matters
If you have a client who uses an SGD but rarely tries to speak, add a quick vocal prompt before you deliver the item. Reinforce any mouth sound that looks like the word. The device keeps communication safe while you shape speech. Try it for a week and track new sounds during both device and no-device times.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study aimed to teach individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and limited vocal speech to emit target vocalizations while using a speech-generating device (SGD). Of the 4 participants, 3 began emitting vocal word approximations with SGD responses after vocal instructional methods (delays, differential reinforcement, prompting) were introduced. Two participants met mastery criterion with a reinforcer delay and differential reinforcement, and 1 met criterion after fading an echoic model and prompt delay. For these participants, vocalizations initiated before speech outputs were shown to increase, and vocalizations generalized to a context in which the SGD was absent. The 4th participant showed high vocalization rates only when prompted. The results suggest that adding vocal instruction to an SGD-based intervention can increase vocalizations emitted along with SGD responses for some individuals with ASD.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 2016 · doi:10.1002/jaba.270