Effects of Demand Complexity on Echolalia in Students With Autism.

Echolalia is a linguistic phenomenon common in individuals with autism spectrum disorder. We examined the relationship between demand complexity and immediate echolalia in four students with an autism diagnosis in a university-based academic setting. Mastered and novel antecedent verbal demands that required an intraverbal response were systematically alternated using a multielement design to test whether participants' immediate echolalia was socially mediated. Results showed that immediate echolalia was more likely to occur during complex novel intraverbal tasks than in any other condition. Implications for function-based treatment strategies are discussed. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40617-020-00535-7. © Association for Behavior Analysis International 2021.