Some Direct and Generalized Effects of Replacing an Autistic Man's Echolalia With Correct Responses to Questions

Abstract

We extended the use of operant procedures to decrease immediate echolalia and increase the appropriate responding to questions of a 21-year-old autistic man. Three experiments were conducted in which the overall plan was to encourage the subject to remain quiet before, during, and after the presentation of questions and teach him to use environmental cues (i.e., word cards or a model's responses) to increase the likelihood of responding correctly. Multiple baseline designs demonstrated that echolalia was rapidly replaced with correct stimulus-specific responses. In addition, there were a variety of generalized improvements in the subject's verbal responses to questions. The procedures and results are contrasted to previous research in an attempt to explain the encouraging findings.

Annotation: Repetitive Behaviour in Autism: A Review of Psychological Research

“…These gains generalised across settings and were maintained at 3-month follow-up. Studies by Durand and Carr (1987), Durand and Crimmins (1987), and McMorrow and Foxx (1986) also found that stereotyped movements and echolalia of adults with autism could be reduced by teaching more appropriate responses. This approach to intervention is sometimes termed functional equivalence training (see Durand & Crimmins, 1991 ;Oliver, 1995 ;for reviews).…”

Cues‐pause‐point Language Training: Teaching Echolalics Functional Use of Their Verbal Labeling Repertoires

“…The purposes of Experiment I were to replicate the results of McMorrow and Foxx (1986) with lower functioning subjects, to determine whether photographed objects could be used as cues instead of word cards, and to begin to isolate any generalized effects that might occur by delaying or withholding training on one set of stimuli (i.e., using the multiple baseline design to assess generalization to untrained stimuli). The training sequence (see General Procedures above) was implemented on the first set of questions with both subjects.…”

“…In an effort to produce generalized improvements in echolalics' verbal behavior to untrained stimuli, McMorrow and Foxx (1986) evaluated a program that took advantage of the individual's verbal labeling skills (instead of his or her echolalia) as the means for establishing a repertoire of appropriate responses to verbal stimuli. In the initial effort McMorrow and Foxx developed "cuespause-point" procedures to teach a persistent immediate echolalic to remain quiet when the trainer held up his index finger before, during, and briefly after the presentation of targeted questions and then to use a pretrained verbal label as the correct response when the trainer pointed to the appropriate environmental cue.…”

Long‐term Follow‐up of Echolalia and Question Answering

“…The identification set questions were presented by a security officer, peer, and staff member, whereas only the peer and staff member conducted the social interaction and facts and figures sets. Foxx (1986) Tom, a 26-year-old man (IQ of 40, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test) who had been diagnosed as both autistic and mentally retarded, was evaluated. He was taught to use hand-printed word cards (he could verbally label a variety of printed words when prompted to do so) to answer correctly three sets of 10 questions from three content areas (i.e., identification, social interaction, and facts and figures).…”

“…Several studies using cues-pause-point procedures have shown that mentally handicapped individuals can be taught to use their established repertoires of labeling skills to answer questions rather than to echo (McMorrow & Foxx, 1986;McMorrow, Foxx, Faw, & Bittle, 1987) and that these skills generalize to untrained questions (Foxx, Faw, McMorrow, Kyle, & Bittle, 1988). Although these effects were encouraging, no information was provided regarding their durability (e.g., see Foxx, 1990;Foxx, Bittle, & Faw, 1989;Koegel & Rincover, 1977;Lovaas, 1987).…”