Facilitating the emergence of convergent intraverbals with children with ASD using various sequences of prerequisite skills training

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the emergence of convergent intraverbals through prerequisite skills training identified by Sundberg and Sundberg (2011) and assessed by DeSouza and colleagues (2019). Further, the study explored the emergence of convergent intraverbals amongst individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) through several variations of prerequisite skills training and to determine if fewer than all four prerequisite skills could facilitate the emergence of convergent intraverbals. Two children, ages 13 to 15 years old, participated in the study, which took place at a university-based school psychology services clinic in the Southeastern United States. Results suggest the sequence of prerequisite skills training identified by previous literature can facilitate the emergence of convergent intraverbals in individuals diagnosed with ASD. However, based on the results of the study, there is little evidence to support the notion that training these prerequisite skills in a varying sequence can facilitate the emergence of convergent intraverbals. Overall, the findings of this study revealed several implications about facilitating the emergence of convergent intraverbals with individuals with ASD. Limitations to this study as well as recommendations for future research in this area are discussed.