Teaching intraverbal behavior to severely retarded children.

The present study evaluated procedures to teach single and multiple intraverbal responses, and assessed whether intraverbals and tacts are functionally independent. A delayed echoic prompting procedure was used to assess transfer of stimulus control. Probes were interspersed among intraverbal training trials to measure the emergence of intraverbals that were not directly trained. Following intraverbal training, visual stimuli were presented to determine whether response topographies transferred to tact conditions. The results suggest that special training is necessary for the acquisition of intraverbal responding in retarded individuals, and provide some support for the functional independence of intraverbals and tacts at the time of acquisition.