Teaching a Child with Autism to Respond to the Question, “What Else?”

Abstract

In this study, a child with autism was taught to respond to the question, “What else?” The purpose of this study was to examine an effective procedure to acquire appropriate responses when asked for additional information. The participant was first asked what he associated with an animal before being asked for additional information. To teach correct responses, a prompt fading procedure was used. The results revealed the procedure was effective. Furthermore, the behavioral variability of the participant increased at the completion of the procedure. The results revealed that children with autism can acquire appropriate responses, and the acquisition of these responses affects the degree of behavioral variability.