Williams, G., Donley, C. R., & Keller, J. W. (2000). Teaching children with autism to ask questions about hidden objects. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 33, 627-630.

We taught 2 4-year-old children with autism to ask questions of an adult who held a closed box with a toy inside. The treatment package (modeling, prompting, and reinforcement) was evaluated with a multiple baseline design across the three question forms during training, generalization, and follow-up evaluations. The first question form ("What's that?") produced the name of the hidden item. The second form ("@n I see it?") produced sight of it, and the third form ("@n I have it?") produced the item itself. Both children learned to ask questions about hidden objects.

DESCRIPTORS: _autism, questions, language acquisition, verbal behavior