The Effects of Scenic Picture Prompts on Variability during the Acquisition of Intraverbal Categorization for Children with Autism

Researchers have demonstrated the efficacy of picture prompts on the acquisition of intraverbals (Coon & Miguel in "Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis," 45, 657-666, 2012; Goldsmith, LeBlanc, & Sautter in "Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders," 1, 1-13, 2007; Ingvarsson & Hollobaugh in "Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis," 44, 659-664, 2011; Ingvarsson & Le in "The Analysis of Verbal Behavior," 27, 75-93, 2011; Miguel, Petursdottir, & Carr in "The Analysis of Verbal Behavior," 21, 27-41, 2005; Partington & Bailey in "The Analysis of Verbal Behavior," 11, 9-18, 1993). However, no one (to our knowledge) has determined the effects of picture prompts on the variability of responding during intraverbal categorization. We evaluated the use of a scenic picture prompt on response variability during the acquisition of intraverbal categorization with 4 children diagnosed with autism. All children mastered the task and initially demonstrated varied responding. However, responding eventually became invariant for all children. These results demonstrate the efficacy of a scenic picture prompt for teaching children with autism intraverbal categorization and for producing initial response variability. Additional research should be conducted to determine teaching procedures that promote continued varied responding for individuals with autism.