Abstract
The results of studies comparing the effectiveness of differing prompt types to teach intraverbal responses have yeilded mixed results. These results suggest individuals’ histories of exposure to specific prompt types may influence which prompt type will be most effective. The purpose of this study was to test whether programmed increases in exposure to specific prompt types can produce concomitant increases in the acquisition rate of intraverbal responding. Acquistion rates among 4 typically developing pre-school aged children were compared when taught using either echoic or tact prompts following exposure training with one prompt type. Results indicated that for all participants the prompt method most recently used to teach intraverbal responses required fewer trials to teach new intraverbal responses compared to a prompt method that had not recently been used to teach intraverbal behavior. The results are discussed in terms of the effects of reinforcement history on the acquisition of verbal behavior.