In the type of intraverbal that consists of saying the opposite of a word, two intraverbals are related to one another because the response form of each intraverbal functions as part of a discriminative stimulus for the other (e.g., ''cold'' in response to ''name the opposite of hot,'' and vice versa). Moreover, the contextual cue ''Name the opposite of -'' is the same in the two intraverbals. The purpose of the present research was to explore a procedure designed to promote emergence of intraverbals of this type. Two children with pervasive developmental disorder learned pairs of intraverbals. Thereafter, they were tested for emergence of intraverbals with reversed stimulus-response functions. Results indicate that, although the participants did not initially show emergence of intraverbals with reversed stimulus-response functions, repeated cycles of probing and teaching facilitated emergence of these relations.

This intervention compared the effects of two procedures on the generalization of a tacting repertoire (labeling) in 6 children with autism spectrum disorder. In one procedure the verbal antecedent stimulus "What is she doing?" appeared together with a person performing an action; in the other procedure, the antecedent stimulus was just the presence of the action. In initial tests, children emitted tacts only when the action was presented with the verbal antecedent. Thereafter, they learned to tact an action without the verbal antecedent and received tests to evaluate generalization to another action. Results indicated that in order to obtain generalization of tacting actions, it was necessary to learn to tact other actions without the verbal antecedent as well as learning to tact the action with the verbal antecedent. These findings have relevance for generalization of tacting actions from control by verbal antecedents to natural conditions and the production of spontaneous language.

Naming consists of tacting an object and selecting it upon hearing its name as a result of emergence. After acquiring naming, children learn objectname relations more quickly and, hence, it is an important achievement in development. We studied the acquisition of the two skills that define naming, using two procedures, in seven typically developing 4-year-old children. The tact-selection procedure consisted of (a) teaching tacts of objects (or pictures) and probing for object selection upon hearing the objects' names, and (b) teaching object selection and probing tacts. The pairing procedure consisted of presenting objects (or pictures) at the same time that an adult said their names, without requiring from the child other response than attending. Of the seven children, five showed emergence of selection responses and tacts. Children showed more instances of emergence with the tact-selection procedure than with the pairing procedure and with three-dimensional (3-D) objects than with pictures. The results have important implications for teaching preschool children and children with learning disabilities.

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We analyzed the emergence of intraverbals, tacts, and selection in response to names spoken by the experimenter as a result of observing auditory stimulus pairing in 12 typical developing adults randomly assigned to two experimental and one control condition. In Part 1, four sounds of musical instruments were paired with their respective names spoken by the experimenter; in Part 2, the sounds were paired with their native country names spoken by the experimenter. Participants in Condition 1 received the pairing sequence of Parts 1 and 2; participants in Condition 2 received the pairing sequence of Parts 2 and 1. After pairing, tacts emerged in all participants and selections emerged in most participants. After the completion of the two pairing phases, intraverbals emerged in three participants of Condition 1. The participants of Condition 2 also demonstrated instances of emergence, but fewer than those of Condition 1. Thus, the sequence of the pairing phases influenced the emergence. Moreover, the intraverbals with the country as responses emerged more quickly than the intraverbals with the instrument as responses. The findings have direct implications on the teaching procedures to facilitate these types of emergence.

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The Motivation Assessment Scale is an aid for hypothesis-driven functional analysis. This study presents its Spanish cross-cultural validation while examining psychometric attributes not yet explored. The study sample comprised 80 primary caregivers of children with autism. Acceptability, scaling assumptions, internal consistency, factor structure, inter-assessor reliability and agreement, and known-group validity analyses were performed. Scaling assumptions, internal consistency (Cronbach alpha of 0.75) and factor structure were satisfactory other than for the Escape domain which demonstrated low internal consistency (0.65), inadequate scaling assumptions (multitrait analysis, 50% success rate) and did not constitute a separate factor. Caregivers' agreement for the primary function reached 73.9% and known group-validity hypotheses across behavior topographies were partially met. The clinical appropriateness of the scale is discussed.

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