Effects of Antecedent and Consequence Secondary Targets on Intraverbal Teaching

Children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may have difficulty with social interactions and communication. Thus, identifying procedures that are efficient and effective at improving communication is important. Instructive feedback (IF) is a procedure that has been found to increase communication for individuals with developmental disabilities by teaching a primary target (PT) and embedding a secondary target (ST) within the learning trial. However, different procedural configurations exist across the IF literature, which may influence its efficacy and efficiency. The purpose of this study was to compare the delivery of antecedent and consequence ST when teaching different tacts and intraverbals to a child diagnosed with ASD across multiple phases and stimulus sets. In phase 1, we compared teaching antecedent and consequence ST to no ST and found that incorporating ST resulted in better acquisition of ST compared to no ST. In phases 2 and 3, we compared only antecedent and consequence ST and showed that both conditions led to the acquisition of intraverbals; however, acquisition rates differed across conditions. Finally, in phase 3, we assessed the participant’s allocation of responding between the different ST types in a concurrent-link arrangement. The participant allocated responding more to the consequence condition, which was generally more efficient at producing ST acquisition in phases 2 and 3. Possible explanations for differences in acquisition related to when ST were delivered are discussed, as well as areas for future research.