Decreasing Echolalia of the Instruction ‘‘Say’’ During Echoic Training Through Use of the Cues-Pause-Point Procedure

Echolalia is common in children with autism and may interfere with the development of functional language. Given the variety of vocal stimuli included in teaching language to children with autism, it is possible that discrimination between instructions and targeted responses may not always occur. Thus, children may engage in very high rates of echolalia during language training because it is unclear which vocalizations produced by an instructor should be echoed. The cues-pausepoint (CPP) procedure has been effective in decreasing echolalia and increasing specific correct responses to unknown questions in adults with intellectual disability. The current investigation applied the CPP procedure to the echoic repertoire with 1 child with autism who consistently echoed the instruction ‘‘say’’ during language training. Results indicated that echolalia of the instruction ‘‘say’’ decreased, and correct responding of the targeted vocalization increased for all targeted words. Implications for the use of the procedure in educational settings are discussed, and areas for future research are provided.