JASH copyright 1999 by

1999, Vol. 24, No.3, 133-146 The Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps

An Incidental Teaching Approach to

Early Intervention for Toddlers
with Autism
Gail G. McGee, Michael J. Marrier, and Teresa Daly
Emory University School of Medicine

In an effort to move incidental teaching research to Due to the severity of autism in the absence of sys-
practical applications for toddlers with autism, a com- tematic intervention, the issue is not whether to inter-
prehensive early intervention model was developed for vene, but how to provide intervention when it will help
use in the natural environments of a childcare center and the most. Given widespread controversy in many issues
children's homes. Based on the premise that social readi- pertaining to autism, strong consensus exists on this one
ness will best be achieved by providing early sociallearn- point: early intervention is a critical factor in effective
ing opportunities, the center based component of the treatment (Rapin, 1997; Strain, Wolery, & Izeman,
model targets the developmental needs of an inclusive 1998).
group of children with and without autism. The home In contrast to a relatively recent past in which insti-
based component involves parents of children with au- tutional care was the primary treatment modality, in-
tism as key participants in their children's learning and tensive early intervention is making it possible for
prepares them to be effective advocates in their children's growing numbers of children to function at or near typi-
futures. The curriculum addresses what it is that toddlers cal levels of development in many domains (Anderson,
need to learn, what environmental arrangements provide Avery, DiPietro, Edwards, & Christian, 1987; Fenske,
the most powerful teaching opportunities, and how Zalenski, Krantz, & McClannahan, 1985; Greenspan &
teachers and parents can most effectively teach children Wieder, 1998; Harris, Handleman, Kristoff, Bass, &
to progress at their optimum pace. Outcome data are Gordon, 1990; Lovaas, 1987; McGee, Morrier, & Daly,
p resented that documents an impact on the language and in press; Strain, Hoyson, & Jamieson, 1985). The key
social behavior of participating toddlers with autism. common elements of programs documenting positive
Two of the more controversial Walden curriculum com- effects are that they are hours intensive, they are pro-
ponents are discussed. Current impediments to system vided by highly trained staff, they actively involve par-
change are considered in the hope that appropriate and ents, and they all begin intervention by at least the pre-
effective early intervention may become available to all school years (Dawson & Osterling, 1997; Harris &
children with autism. Handleman, 1994).
Early intervention for children with autism is not just
a matter of extending the length of intervention for a
DESCRIPTORS: autism, early intervention, inciden-
longer period. Rather, when children with autism are
tal teaching, Walden toddler program very young, it is possible to make qualitative improve-
ments that cannot be accomplished later (McGee,
Research and development activities were supported in part 1988). However, until recently, most approaches to
by grant H024B20069 from the U.S. Department of Education, early intervention of autism have been implemented in
Office of Special Education Programs. The opinions expressed preschool settings. Few intervention approaches have
herein do not necessarily reflect the policy of the U.S. Depart-
ment of Education, and no official endorsement should be
been aimed specifically at meeting the needs of tod-
inferred. dlers. Improvements in early diagnosis, the advent of
Special credit is due to members of the Toddler Interdisci- child find initiatives, and the nationwide development
plinary Team: Dixie Bradley, M.Ed.; Joel Bregman, M.D.; of early intervention systems serving children aged
Barbara Dunbar, Ph.D.; Lisa Epstein, M.A., CCC/SLP; birth to three have created a timely opportunity to be-
Heather McCabe, Ph.D.; Carolyn Mervis, Ph.D.; Michael To-
masello, Ph.D.; Todd Risley, Ph.D.; and Philip Strain, Ph.D. gin intervention at the earliest possible age-the tod-
Over the years, Dr. Risley's input and advice has been espe- dler years.
cially helpful. In this article, a brief description of the Walden Tod-
Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to dler Program will be followed by a review of the em-
Gail G. McGee, Emory Autism Resource Center, 718 Gate-
wood Road, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sci-
pirical and philosophical foundations that comprise the
ences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA bottom lines of the incidental teaching toddler model.
30322. E-mail: gmcgee@emory.edu Next, key components of the model's incidental teach-
133

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134 McGee, Morrier, and Daly

ing curriculum will be highlighted. Preliminary out- The classroom operation is detailed later in a descrip-
come data on participating children will also be re- tion of the incidental teaching curriculum.
ported, along with discussion of practice and policy is-
sues that arise in providing intensive early autism Home Based Program
intervention. A multifaceted family program is provided for chil-
dren with autism. A family liaison, who is an experi-
Overview of the Walden Toddler Program enced teacher in the child's center based program, pro-
The Walden Toddler Model was developed and vides up to 4 hours of intervention demonstration in the
evaluated with support from a U.S. Department of home each week. The family liaison models how to
Education (Office of Special Education Programs) implement teaching procedures in the course of regular
model demonstration grant. Following 10 months of home living activities. Parents are provided with hands-
curriculum preparation, needs assessments, and model on training on how to add in-home teaching hours. Par-
development, the toddler program opened in July 1993. ents are asked to commit to investing at least 10 addi-
The Walden Toddler Program provides more than 30 tional hours of home based instruction, which is spread
hours per week of planned early intervention through a across the week. The goal is to set up a schedule de-
combination of home and center based components. A veloped collaboratively with the parents for optimal use
comprehensive incidental teaching approach is used to of the child's time at home. By blending teaching into
blend systematic instruction into children's family rou- normal home and community activities, most of the
tines at home and in the community, as well as into an parents provide far more instructional time than the
enriched early childhood center that includes a majority required 10 hour commitment.
of typically developing peers. Another important aspect of the family program re-
The Walden Toddler Program is part of a continuum lates to advocacy preparation and establishing parent
of early intervention provided within the Walden Early networks of support. Group parent meetings are held
Childhood Programs, which includes a preschool and bimonthly to review common teaching issues and to
prekindergarten classroom as well as the toddler pro- prepare parents for proactive advocacy in their chil-
gram. The Walden Programs are a component of the dren's futures. The parent seminar series alternates
Emory Autism Resource Center, which is part of the topics of relevance to the families of children with and
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at without autism (e.g., promoting independence in dress-
Emory University School of Medicine. ing skills) with topics more specific to the needs of fami-
The Walden Toddler Program is an adaptation of an lies of children with autism (e.g., what is an individual-
earlier model developed for daycare of typically devel- ized educational plan?). In addition, social activities
oping infants (Herbert-Jackson, O'Brien, Porterfield, such as holiday dinners, summer picnics, and classroom
& Risley, 1977) and toddlers (0 'Brien, Porterfield, volunteer opportunities (e.g., multicultural family
Herbert-Jackson, & Risley, 1979). Program compo- lunch) help to develop friendships among parents of
nents evolved from over a decade of research in staff children with and without disabilities.
training, environmental arrangements, and activity
choices (Doke & Risley, 1972; Risley & Favell, 1979; Program Replication
Twardosz, Cataldo, & Risley, 1974). However, substan- The Walden Toddler Model has been packaged in
tial adaptations were needed to accommodate the detailed curriculum and model manuals. In addition,
needs of toddlers with autism, to address the challenges training sequences have been prepared that enable the
of social inclusion, and to incorporate more current re- staff of other programs to replicate components of the
search on incidental teaching with children with autism. model. To permit replication of the Walden Toddler
A family program component was also added. Program, it was necessary to specify the bottom line
principles for both full and partial replications. Further,
Center Based Program the key components of the model's incidental teaching
The center-based program offers a daily morning ses- curriculum have been specified in a manner that allows
sion (8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.) to 4 children with autism for replication of the program in its entirety or for rep-
and a daily afternoon session (2:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.) to lication of select portions.
4 additional children with autism. In recognition of the The Walden Toddler Program currently has two full
needs of the community for access to child care for replication sites located in Savannah, Georgia, and Au-
typically developing children, a decision was made to burn, Alabama. They operate virtually identically to
offer full-day placements for the children without dis- the program at Emory, although they are under non-
abilities. Eight typically developing children attend full university administrative umbrellas. Partial replication
day, including lunch and nap that are provided during programs have been set up in a California children's
the mid-day interval between morning and afternoon hospital and in a public school system in Maryland.
sessions. For all enrolled children, the center based pro- There are a mounting number of requests for technical
gram operates 5 days per week for 12 months a year. assistance because the model appeals to early interven-

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 Incidental Teaching Approach 135

tion providers and the demand for quality autism inter- The Walden Toddler Program operates on the as-
vention programs is so widespread. sumption that a minimum of 30 hours per week of in-
tervention is needed to reap the benefits of early inter-
Hallmarks of the Walden Toddler Model vention, and a child must be kept engaged for a mini-
mum of 80% of the time spent in planned intervention.
Walden was developed from a number of bottom line
In the Walden Preschool and Pre-Kindergarten class-
principles derived from research and experience. For
rooms, children receive at least 30 hours per week of
programs that are interested in replicating some or all
classroom instruction, and a planned after school pro-
components of the Walden Toddler Model, there must
gram provides formal promotion of engagement for up
be a commitment to ensuring compatibility of program
to a total of 47.5 hours per week. In all Walden Pro-
orientation and practice with the following principles.
grams, well prepared family members (including par-
1. Early is Essential ents, grandparents, siblings, and others) are capable of
If the goal of early intervention is to alter the devel- adding substantially to the number of intervention
opmental course of autism, then the social and commu- hours that their child receives each week.
nication deficits that characterize autism must be ad-
dressed when children are as young as possible. It is 3. Family Involvement is Critical
likely that the neurologic plasticity of the toddler years No program for toddlers could be complete without
affords the best opportunity to attempt fundamental, active involvement of families. Specialized training for
broad based behavioral change (Huttenlocher, 1984). families is most conveniently accomplished when chil-
Based on the premise that the most valuable interven- dren are very young, because parents of all toddlers are
tion period may turn out to be the toddler years, it is constantly with their children for reasons of basic
deemed crucial to plan the use of this critical period. safety. Moreover, parents tend to be most actively in-
Walden has been designed specifically to meet the volved in teaching their children during the toddler
needs of toddlers, and children ideally enter between years (cf. Hart & Risley, 1999). By providing parents of
the ages of 15 to 30 months. The curriculum is generally very young children with autism with specialized com-
appropriate for children with autism for a full year from petence in how to promote their child's learning, more
the time of program entry, and typically developing chil- intervention time becomes available to the child and
dren are appropriately challenged until approximately more normalized family functioning becomes a long-
36 months of age. All Walden replications must serve at term reality (McGee, Jacobs, & Regnier, 1993). Fur-
least some toddlers with autism. ther, by educating parents about autism and proactive
advocacy on their child's behalf, they may become
2. More is Better more discriminating and effective consumers through-
The Walden Toddler Model is based on the principle out their child's important early childhood years and
that hours of engaged time are key to children's learn- beyond (Zigler, 1997).
ing, and more hours of engaged time is better than less. Replications of the Walden Program must provide
The first controlled early autism intervention study pro- the family component of the program, including both
vided a clear demonstration that 40 or more hours of specialized parent training and advocacy preparation. If
early intervention produced markedly better outcomes parents have the capability of providing the necessary
than 10 or less hours of the same intervention (Lovaas, intensity of hours, as well as inclusion with typical peers
1987). Recent reviews of research based autism inter- (i.e., similar aged siblings or neighbors), it may be pos-
vention programs indicate a range between 20 and 40 sible to replicate at least portions of the curriculum
hours of intervention per week (Dawson & Osterling, without the center based component. However, expe-
1997; Harris & Handleman, 1994). rience indicates that the center based component
The quality of an early intervention program must be should not be implemented in the absence of the home
measured not only in number of hours per week of based program.
planned intervention, but also in terms of the effective-
ness of the program in obtaining child engagement in 4. Social Development Requires Early Inclusion
learning opportunities. Issues of engaged time take on Social engagement must be a first priority for chil-
special concern when educating children with autism, dren with autism. The difficulty of impacting children's
because at the onset of treatment they are seldom en- ongoing social behavior requires that social interven-
gaged in productive activity (McGee, Daly, Izeman, tion be intensive and carefully planned. Thus, children
Mann, & Risley, 1991). Thus, if a child with autism is with autism and typically developing peers must be di-
engaged with toys, activities, and/or people in the rectly taught how to interact with one another (McGee,
child's environment for only 50% of a 20 hour per week Almeida, Sulzer-Azaroff, & Feldman, 1992). However,
program, then the child is available for learning for only the challenge of social intervention is greater than
10 hours per week (T. R. Risley, personal communica- teaching children with autism "how to" interact with
tion, November 3, 1993). their typical peers. Lifelong community participation

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136 McGee, Morrier, and Daly

requires that children develop a social interest that will arise, intervention must be in the form of positive be-
support their social growth beyond the early interven- havioral support (Dunlap, Johnson, & Robbins, 1990).
tion years. In short, Walden replications must explicitly agree to a
Because the development of normal social behavior prohibition on use of aversive or overly restrictive pro-
cuts right at the core of what defines autism (Fein, Pen- cedures.
nington, Markowitz, Braverman, & Waterhouse, 1986;
Volkmar, Carter, Sparrow, & Cicchetti, 1993), such a 6. Incidental Teaching Should be Planned
daunting effort must begin as early as possible. It is Incidental teaching offers the advantages of a tech-
during the toddler years that typically developing chil- nical grounding in applied behavior analysis (ABA),
dren make important transitions into the world of social with the added benefit that accrues from delivering in-
interactions with their peers. By delaying social inter- tervention in the context of regular early childhood ac-
vention for toddlers with autism, developmental gaps tivities (McGee, Daly, & Jacobs, 1994). Incidental
expand because the early years of child development teaching is a systematic protocol of instruction that is
are characterized by dramatic social growth. Unfortu- delivered in the context of the natural stimulus condi-
nately, without systematic planned social intervention, tions of everyday environments (Hart & Risley, 1968,
most children with autism show little or no progress in 1974, 1975). Specifically, incidental teaching requires
peer related social behavior (McGee, Feldman, & Mor- that the environment be arranged to attract children to
rier, 1997). Logically, the inclusion of children with dis- desired toys and activities. Children initiate incidental
abilities is most easily accomplished when developmen- teaching episodes by gesturing or requesting a desired
tal differences are smallest. item or event, and the teacher prompts them for an
Walden maintains a ratio of two typically developing elaboration in their initiation. Finally, they are given
peers for every child with autism. Replications of the access to desired toys or activities contingent on pro-
center based component of the Walden Toddler Pro- ducing an elaborated response.
gram must provide at least a majority of same aged Teaching in the course of ongoing activities in natural
typical peers. environmental settings is a marked departure from tra-
ditional behavioral methods of educating children with
5. Early Childhood Should be Fun autism. Specifically, discrete trial procedures have usu-
The design of a curriculum for toddlers was positively ally consisted of rote drill instruction that occur in dis-
influenced by societal expectations regarding the care traction free settings (Lovaas et al., 1981). Discrete tri-
of young children. Although there are few who would als are teacher directed rather than child initiated, and
argue that aversive treatments are appropriate for very there is usually no relationship between the response
young children with or without autism, some special and the reward for correct responses.
education programs incorporate unplanned restrictive Critics have sometimes suggested that incidental
procedures. For example, it is not uncommon in pro- teaching is "applied behavior analysis in sheep's cloth-
grams for children with disabilities to find the practice ing." There is some truth in this characterization. The
of using seat belts to restrict children's movement. Fur- same principles of learning underlie both incidental
ther, although some proponents of discrete trial behav- teaching and discrete trial training formats. Thus, pre-
ioral interventions are reluctant to begin intensive rote cision in the delivery of reinforcement, stimulus presen-
trial drills when children are below the age of 3 (Ander- tation that promotes errorless learning, and various
son, 1994), others have advocated for beginning inter- other advances in discrimination training apply equally
vention with infants confined to their high chairs well to incidental teaching and discrete trial training
(Green, Brennen, & Fein, 1997). procedures. The impetus for incidental teaching with
Teaching in the course of children's ongoing play ac- children with autism was not a rejection of discrete trial
tivities is a traditional early childhood approach to en- training formats. Rather, the interest in incidental
suring that children enjoy and cooperate with instruc- teaching was prompted by the need to overcome the
tion (Brendekamp & Coople, 1997; Bricker & Cripe, generalization problems that continued following tradi-
1992). Experience at Walden has demonstrated that it tional behavioral interventions (McGee, Krantz, Ma-
is possible to provide systematic behavioral interven- son, & McClannahan, 1983).
tion while children enjoy their early childhood years, by In other words, children with autism do learn to
blending positive and naturalistic teaching procedures speak with highly structured discrete trial instruction.
into a developmentally appropriate early childhood However, research has shown that children are better
curriculum. able to transfer their language to new settings and
Replications of the Walden Toddler Model must people following instruction with incidental teaching
commit to a preventive approach to dealing with be- (McGee, Krantz, & McClannahan, 1985, 1986). For ex-
havioral challenges, which may be presented by the ample, children who learned some prepositions with
children without disabilities as well as by children with discrete trial instruction, and other prepositions with
autism (McGee & Daly 1999b). When problems do incidental teaching, were shown to be able to use lan-

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 Incidental Teaching Approach 137

guage learned through incidental teaching with differ- with autism to maximum advantage, the Walden envi-
ent adults, in different settings, and to describe the lo- ronment has been engineered in a way that blends the
cation of toys that were not associated with initial need for systematic instruction with the need for nor-
teaching. However, these same children could use the malized environmental stimulation.
prepositions learned through discrete trial instruction The project has taken a systematic approach to the
only in the contexts that corresponded to the initial development of a curriculum to support learning by
teaching situation. toddlers with and without autism. The term curriculum
Walden was developed on the premise that goals of was broadly defined to address the goals, environmen-
achieving meaningful outcomes are best obtained by tal contexts and instructional materials, and the teach-
teaching in the context of naturally occurring stimuli. ing procedures that would produce maximum develop-
There is an efficiency advantage in using procedures mental progress. Specifically, the framework for the
that promote generalization of skills simultaneous with Walden Toddler curriculum was built around three cen-
initial skill acquisition. In addition, procedural require- tral questions: (1) What do toddlers need to learn? (2)
ments of incidental teaching promote social initiations What environmental arrangements are most conducive
and skills in making choices, because children's initia- to teaching various skills to toddlers? and (3) What do
tions are consistently rewarded in every teaching epi- caregivers need to do to promote learning in toddlers?
sode (McGee et al., 1986). Incidental teaching proce- The incidental teaching curriculum was designed based
dures also generate less cue dependency than more on current research, which was supplemented by input
traditional interventions (McGee et al., 1985). Impor- from an interdisciplinary panel with wide ranging ex-
tantly, incidental teaching dictates that careful atten- pertise on typical and atypical development.
tion be paid to children's preferences in the selection of Each of the following components of the incidental
classroom toys and activities, which serve as both the teaching curriculum must be in place to achieve a full
instructional materials and reinforcement for correct replication of the Walden Toddler Program. However,
responses (Mason, McGee, Farmer-Dougan, & Risley, programs wishing to accomplish a partial replication
1989). may borrow the components of their choice. Key com-
A practical advantage of a comprehensive incidental ponents of the major curriculum areas are listed in
teaching curriculum is that it meets the needs of an Table 1.
inclusive group of toddlers with and without autism,
Interdisciplinary Selection of Toddler Goals
because the procedures were originally developed for
Input on the selection of goals was solicited from a
use with preschoolers without disabilities (Hart & Ris-
specially assembled interdisciplinary team composed of
ley, 1968, 1974, 1975). Additionally, parents and other
early childhood specialists, developmental psycholo-
caregivers are able to teach continuously without dis-
gists, special educators, a pediatrician and psychiatrist,
rupting their normal family routines (McGee et al.,
a speech and language therapist, and autism experts
1993). Perhaps the most appealing advantage is that a
(see Acknowledgements for names of contributors). A
well planned incidental teaching curriculum makes it
possible for young children with autism to receive in- Table 1
tensive intervention while engaging in age appropriate Incidental Teaching Curriculum Components
play activities. Curriculum areas Key components
In sum, our aim has been to help children with autism Interdisciplinary Expressive verbal language
achieve fundamental changes toward social normaliza- selection of Engagement with toys
tion by extending an incidental teaching approach to toddler goals Social responsiveness to adults
early autism intervention downward to the toddler Social tolerance/imitation of
peers
years. In either partial or complete replications of the
Independence in daily living
Walden Toddler Model, the hallmarks of the model
must be fully in place. Thus, there must be at least some Environmental Zone based teacher schedule
arrangement Goals embedded in natural
toddlers with autism, a minimum of 30 hours of planned activities
intervention, a family program component, a majority Supplemental one-to-one
of peers without disabilities, an absence of either instruction in natural contexts
planned or inadvertent aversive procedures, and at Child selected teaching
materials
least some use of incidental teaching procedures.
Systematic display and rotation
of toys
Development of a Comprehensive Incidental teaching Vigorous speech shaping
Incidental Teaching Curriculum procedures Active social instruction
for Toddlers Wait -ask-say-show-do
Promotion of engagement
There are only so many waking hours in the life of a Checklist based performance
appraisals
very young child. To use the early hours of children

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138 McGee, Morrier, and Daly

modified Delphi process was used to structure input is engaged. However, characteristically, children with
from the varied theoretical and experiential perspec- autism do not begin intervention with functional play
tives, as follows. skills and toy play must be directly taught (Lifter, Sul-
First, information was culled from an open ended zer-Azaroff, Anderson, & Cowdery, 1993). Even as
questionnaire that queried opinions on developmen- play skills have been learned, effort is needed to ensure
tally appropriate goals for toddlers. In addition, the that children with autism remain engaged for a mini-
questionnaire asked respondents to identify how their mum of 800/0 of their time in the toddler center.
answers might differ for typically developing toddlers Parents usually have little difficulty sustaining en-
and those with autism. The team provided convergent gagement during direct teaching interactions with their
opinions in response to questions on differences in cur- children, once they have acquired skills in incidental
riculum needs between toddlers with and without au- teaching and the use of preferred materials for instruc-
tism, as well as on major normative developmental ac- tion. However, brief periods of independent engage-
complishments to be obtained during the toddler years. ment may be a home intervention goal, so that a parent
Team members were then contacted individually to becomes able to complete a household chore, answer a
clarify differing priorities on curriculum goals, general phone call, or interact with a sibling or spouse.
philosophical orientation toward development and Social responsiveness to adults. An initial goal is to
learning, and supportive environmental arrangements teach children to orient toward adults when ap-
for toddlers. Finally, a group conference was convened proached, and to maintain typical levels of eye gaze
to provide for interactive discussion of suggestions for during interactions with parents and teachers. Al-
modification of the first curriculum draft. The ultimate though children with autism may not express their af-
selection of general goals for toddlers with and without fection to parents in traditional ways, the bond is usu-
autism was based on a combination of interdisciplinary ally present so that social responsiveness to parents is
input, available research, and experience in teaching achieved relatively easily through routine incidental
preschool aged children with autism. A brief descrip- teaching interactions. More active intervention is often
tion of major curriculum goals follows. required to obtain responsiveness to teachers. This is
Verbal expressive language. The first objective is to essential for incidental teaching to proceed. Thus, it is
teach children without verbal language how to vocalize impossible to do incidental teaching with a child who is
when they want things, and to provide them access to running away. However, when a child has learned to
desired events contingent on their vocalizations. When orient toward a teacher, then opportunities are ripe for
contingent vocalizations are established, then meaning- incidental teaching to occur.
ful word approximations are expanded through vigor- Social tolerance/imitation of peers. The development
ous speech shaping and incidental teaching. The pro- of reciprocal peer interactions is not a realistic goal for
cess of teaching contingent vocalizations and word ap- toddlers with autism, because the typical peers are just
proximations can be expedited by pairing the children's beginning to interact with other children and do not yet
existing sounds with their most preferred rewards (e.g., have the social competence to serve as peer tutors.
"bu" can be matched with "ball"). Generic requesting However, from the outset, children with autism can be
words (such as "more") are not taught early on because taught to stay in proximity to other children so that
they tend to limit the child's need to acquire expanded social learning opportunities are constantly available.
vocabulary. By maintaining constant proximity to typical peers,
When a child has obtained at least ten nonprompted children with autism learn to tolerate inadvertent
word approximations, the process of building routine brushes with other children, and at least to refrain from
word combinations begins (e.g., moving from becoming upset when approached by another child.
"cracker," to "want cracker," to "I want cracker"). At Other important peer related skills that do not require
this point in language instruction, vigorous efforts are complex language are to learn to watch other children
launched to rapidly expand the vocabulary of object and to do (at least approximately) what other children
labels, actions, and descriptors. When the child has be- are doing. When all of these components are in place,
come facile at use of brief phrases and sentences, the the stage is set for peer imitation. By this time, children
child is gradually required to include correct use of con- are nearly always ready for transition to the preschool,
junctions, articles, and pronouns. Finally, conversa- where they can benefit from more direct instruction in
tional language, colloquial phrases, and other "child how to verbally interact with peers.
culture" phrases and gestures are systematically Independence in daily living. Self-care skills are far
blended into the child's everyday vocabulary (McGee easier to teach a child with autism than more complex
& Daly, 1999a). social and language abilities. Therefore, parents can be
Engagement with toys. In order for a toddler to be encouraged with early success if they watch and con-
engaged in meaningful activity for sustained periods of tribute to their children's learning of skills in how to
time, the child must be able to play with toys. In other wash their hands, put on their shoes, or blow their nose
words, play is the normal activity in which a young child with tissue. Of course, the big task is toilet training,

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 Incidental Teaching Approach 139

which can be accomplished by children with autism at are attempted for one activity, then even a talented
the same ages as their typical peers. In fact, unnecessary teacher can teach all day to no avail. For example, if
complications result when toilet training is delayed, be- children with autism receive 30 teaching episodes on 10
cause children with autism have a much more difficult different topics, then they will have had only three op-
time after they have developed a variety of nonfunc- portunities to acquire each new skill. In contrast, if chil-
tional toilet routines. dren received 30 teaching episodes on one topic, the
probability of acquisition is greatly increased. Haphaz-
ard incidental teaching may be sufficient (if not opti-
Environmental Arrangements mal) for typically developing children, but unplanned
Levels of consideration in arranging ideal environ- instruction of any variety is not likely to produce learn-
ments range from deployment of teachers, to specifica- ing in a child with autism.
tion of activities and classroom schedules, and finally to Once an activity has been designated as a primary
furniture arrangement and the display of toys. Detailed zone for teaching a given skill at a specified time each
specifications exist for arranging the Toddler Center. day, then children's individualized objectives can be
Depending on the goals selected for teaching at home, easily blended into the teacher's agenda. Thus, if morn-
and the parents' preference for environmental struc- ing free-play is designated as a time for teaching play
ture, many of the same procedures are adapted for use skills, then children with autism may be taught func-
in children's homes. At a minimum, information on tional use of toys at the same time that typically devel-
high preference toys for use in teaching is shared be- oping peers are encouraged to elaborate their imagi-
tween home and center. nary play.
Zone based teacher deployment. To ensure child en- Supplemental one-to-one instruction. Although the
gagement and frequent teaching opportunities, the goal of an incidental teaching environment is to blend
Toddler Center is organized into three concurrent and teaching into naturally occurring daily activities, there
overlapping teaching zones (LeLaurin & Risley, 1972). remains a place for one-to-one instruction for children
A zone implies more than just a physical area of the with autism. Specifically, one-to-one instruction is ap-
center, but also the goal, activity, environmental ar- propriate when it is difficult to ensure that a sufficient
rangement, and teaching routine. Daily activities in the number of teaching episodes for a given skill can be
center based programs are scheduled in such a way as blended into the natural environment. For example, if a
to deploy teachers to staff the various zones that are child with autism is having difficulty learning correct
open at a given time. Teachers conduct teaching rou- use of pronouns, it may be difficult to designate a class-
tines that are specific to the goal of each zone. room activity for teaching this skill because there are no
At any given time, a lead teacher "conducts" the typically developing children who are having this prob-
classroom, ensuring that children are encouraged to lem. It is sometimes easier to provide a daily 15 minute
participate in a variety of teaching zones. The lead session of direct practice on a challenging skill, rather
teacher also supports the three zone teachers so that than to risk the possibility that the child does not re-
their full attention can be constantly focused on the ceive enough teaching episodes to achieve mastery.
children. An overlapping schedule of zones ensures In the Walden Toddler classroom, children with au-
that children have many choices, and teaching can be tism generally receive two or three one-to-one sessions
continuous because there is no waiting for large group per day. The incidental teaching format is maintained
transitions. As a practical matter, the physical separa- during one-to-one sessions, although there are massed
tion of teachers prevents the tendency of even the best incidental teaching episodes. Thus, the child will be
adult teachers to congregate and chat. provided with opportunities to initiate to an array of
Goals embedded in natural activities. The major tod- highly preferred toys, and a designated teacher will pro-
dler goals are assigned to teaching zones at the center, vide incidental teaching prompts that pertain to the
as well as to routine family activities in the child's child's interest ("Say give me the ball"). The child will
home. By embedding goals into teaching zones and then gain access to the ball by responding to the teach-
home schedules, instruction is spread across times of er's prompt for an elaboration. To maintain the advan-
day, across teachers, and across locations within a set- tages of teaching in natural environments and to pre-
ting. An example of the Toddler Center schedule is serve the availability of peer role models, the one-to-
shown in Table 2 and a sample home schedule is illus- one incidental teaching sessions usually occur in the
trated in Table 3. middle of the free-play zone.
No more than one, or at most two, learning topics are Preferred toys provide the fuel for toddler learning.
assigned to each activity zone. Although a good teacher Research and practice in the Walden classrooms have
can find ways to teach many skills at a given activity, placed a high priority on ways of selecting and display-
there have to be enough teaching episodes within and ing toys in a manner that draws the interests of toddlers
across days for children with autism to learn new skills. with and without autism. Each child with autism re-
If goals have not been prespecified, or if too many goals ceives at least a monthly sensory preference assess-

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140 McGee, Morrier, and Daly

Table 2
Sample Toddler Center Daily ~chedule

Lead teacher Teacher 1 Teacher 2 Teacher 3

8:30 Arrivals Free play Arrivals Health check
2:00 (greetings) (playskills/engagernent; peer (Independent dressing) (body parts labels; toileting
proximity) independence)
8:45 Lead teach" Special activity Free-play Health check
2:15 (engagement/concepts; peer (playskills/engagement; peer (body parts labels; toileting
proximity) proximity) independence)
9:00 Lead teach Special activity One-to-one Free-play
2:30 (engagement/concepts; peer (increasing vocalizations) (playskills/engagement; peer
proximity) proximity)
9:15 Assist snack Free-play Snack One-to-one
2:45 (independence) (playskills/engagement; peer (verbal requests; peer (verbal imitation)
proximity) proximity)
9:30 Assist snack One-to-one Snack Free-play
3:00 (independence) (N onechoic language) (verbal requests; peer (playskills/engagement; peer
proximity) proximity)
9:45 Lead transition Toilet/diaper Free-play Shoes
3:15 (independence) (pIayskills/engagemen t: peer (independent dressing)
proximity)
10:00 Safety One-to-one Playground
3:30 (increasing vocalizations) (gross motor skills)
10:15 Safety Playground One-to-one
3:45 (gross motor skills) (two-word combinations)
10:30 Lead transition Free-play Shoes
4:00 (vocabulary; peer proximity) (independent dressing)
10:45 Assist circle Free-play Circle time
4:15 (peer observation) (vocabulary; peer proximity) (peer observation; synchrony)
11:00 Small group One-to-one Toilet/diaper Free-play
4:30 (turn taking; (verbal imitation) (independent toileting) (vocabulary; peer proximity)
engagement)
11:15 Lead teach Free-play Table game One-to-one
4:45 (vocabulary; peer proximity) (turn taking; peer (verbal imitation)
observation)
11:30 Lead teach Story One-to-one Free-play
5:00 (attending; peer proximity) (contingent vocalizations) (vocabulary; peer proximity)
11:45 Departures Shoes Free-play Toilet/diaper
5:15 (greetings) (independent dressing) (vocabulary; peer proximity) (independent toileting)
a Times listed on top refer to the morning (8:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m.) session and times listed on bottom refer to the afternoon (2:00-5:30
p.m.) session.
b Lead teach indicates a routine of overseeing all classroom zones, in addition to the special assignments noted.
- denotes teacher break period.

ment, which helps identify the attributes of toys that hobby boxes are put together to store toys that promote
will elicit the child's initiations. Incidental teaching uses sustained engagement, and other highly preferred toys
toys as both the teaching materials and the reward for are selected for use in one-to-one instruction (McGee
practicing new skills. Regardless of theoretical perspec- et aI., 1991). In addition, the toys displayed in the class-
tive regarding the appropriateness of concrete rewards room are systematically rotated to maintain novelty, to
for typically developing children, the fact is that many promote cooperation, and to permit matching of target
children with autism will not give their best effort un- goals to activity (e.g., farm toys are put on toy shelves
less very potent rewards follow the skill we are hoping when the targeted vocabulary words are labels of farm
to increase. Similarly, research has shown that behavior animals; McGee & Daly, 1999b).
problems are minimized when very potent rewards are When the environment is full of toys and activity
available during teaching (Mason et aI., 1989). choices that interest a child, then there are many op-
Systematic display and rotation of toys. Research has portunities for incidental teaching. However, incidental
also been conducted to devise strategies for displaying teaching is most effective when there has been careful
and dispensing toys in a manner that maximizes en- planning of the interface between the environment and
gagement and teaching opportunities (McGee & Daly, the procedures that the teacher will use to dispense
1999b; McGee et aI., 1991). Therefore, specialized preferred materials.

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 Incidental Teaching Approach 141

Table 3
Sample Daily Home Teaching Schedule
Time Activity Primary goal(s) Teacher
2:30-2:45 Outdoor play/swing Requests Mother
2:45-3:00 Prepare for snack Independence in handwashing and toileting Mother
3:00-3:15 Snack Requests Mother
3:15-3:30 Play with blocks Play skills Mother
Sibling proximity 4 yr. old Sister
6:30-6:45 Rough and tumble Adult responsivity Father
play Sibling proximity Sister
6:45-7:00 Bath time Expressive vocabulary body parts labels Father
7:00-7:15 Dress for bed Independent dressing Father
Cooperation
7:15-7:30 Bedtime story Receptive vocabulary Mother

Incidental Teaching Procedures provides the child access to the toy or topic of interest.
At Walden, all instruction is blended into the natural To keep interactions enjoyable, the teacher will play
context of children's ongoing activities and interests. with the child in between teaching episodes. After a
Although some of the procedures reviewed below are brief period of play, the teacher once again waits for the
variants of incidental teaching procedures, the basic signal that a new "teachable moment" has arrived. An
components of in-context teaching and natural conse- example of an incidental teaching sequence is shown in
quences are components of each. Table 4.
The "how to" of incidental teaching. A teaching epi- Vigorous speech shaping. In the interest of promot-
sode begins when a child signals the teacher that the ing maximum language gains, it is essential that there
time for instruction is at hand by initiating for a toy, be very frequent episodes aimed at language instruc-
activity, or attention. Most often for toddlers, initia- tion. Errorless instructional formats are used to pro-
tions are concrete gestures (pointing or reaching) or mote acquisition of language, in order to minimize frus-
brief verbal indications of what they want. As language tration and encourage future verbal attempts. Behav-
progresses, the initiations of typically developing chil- ioral procedures for shaping successive approximations
dren will increasingly be in the form of commenting are similar with either discrete trial or incidental teach-
about an item, asking a question, or showing an accom- ing, with the major differences being the child initiation
plishment to the teacher. and the nonarbitrary relationship of the response to the
Because many children with autism have character- reinforcer (Williams, Koegel, & Egel, 1981). Although
istic deficits in the ability to initiate, Walden teachers the use of natural, nonedible reinforcers is viewed as
are trained in a variety of strategies for encouraging or preferable, children with autism often present initially
priming "initiations." Thus, a teacher may market an with very few interests. Of utmost importance is the use
attractive toy, may gently interrupt the child's play by of the most powerful reinforcers possible. If edible
placing a hand on a toy, or request a turn with a toy and treats are all that a child seems to want, then these will
await the child's indication that the child wants the toy. be used at the stage of teaching contingent vocaliza-
Environmental arrangements also prime initiations. tions. In other words, the most important language les-
For example, a gate between classroom areas may oc- son for children is that their "voice" can efficiently
casion an initiation to move between areas, and toys serve to get them what they want.
that are visible but not accessible (such as on a high When contingent vocalizations are established, it is
shelf) will similarly encourage children's initiations. important to move quickly to pairing the child's existing
When a child initiates, teachers prompt for an elabo- speech sounds with highly preferred objects. At Wal-
ration appropriate to the child's developmental level. den, a couple of discriminated sounds are usually
The prompt must be challenging but not too difficult taught simultaneously. As soon as acquisition occurs,
for the child to succeed. If the response is not correct, the child is quickly shifted to new word approximations
the child should be given additional cues and up to (while continuing to practice the previously acquired
three prompts. It is important for children to learn that sounds). In short, clinical judgement is required to pre-
incidental teaching will nearly always end in success vent a child from overgeneralizing the use of one sound
and receipt of an item of interest. to multiple objects.
As soon as a child has responded correctly to the Shaping requirements remain fairly loose until chil-
teacher's prompt (with or without assistance), the dren are consistently verbalizing their needs. At that
teacher should confirm that response. A confirmation time, the existing words are required to be stated with
states exactly what the child has done correctly, and is some (although not perfect) clarity. The overriding as-
paired with praise. After the confirmation, the teacher sumption is that practice in speaking will improve most

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142 McGee, Morrier, and Daly

Table 4 next 2 minutes before having to relinquish it to the child

Example of Incidental Teaching With a Child With Autism who wishes to play with it. Some degree of accommo-
Child: (Playing with toy cars on "race track" made of dation is used in recognition that toddlers may have
blocks) difficulty in sharing a very high preference toy. Thus,
Teacher: (Gets at child's eye level and watches his play)
Child: (Continues playing)
rather than endure great upset and fighting over espe-
Teacher: "Billy, you car is really fast." (Waits 5 sec) cially popular toys, duplicates are made available as
Child: (No response or indication that he has heard the necessary.
teacher) Wait-ask-say-show-do. A backward chaining faded
Teacher: (Gently takes the car and pushes it on the track guidance procedure is used to promote independence
in front of Billy. Waits 5 sec)
Child: (Reaches for the car) in daily living skills. The format is a straightforward
Teacher: "What color is your car?" sequence of prompts, interspersed with a 5 sec intertrial
Child: (Looks puzzled) interval that provides an opportunity to perform inde-
Teacher: "This car is r ...". pendently, receive praise, and move on with the rou-
Child: "red"
Teacher: "Perfect answer! It is a red car." (Gives Billy the
tine. At the Wait prompt, the teacher simply takes the
car and helps him build a new bridge to drive over with child to the area where environmental cues will be evi-
his car.) dent (e.g., the child's shoes are laid out in front of his
cubby). If there is no response within 5 sec, the teacher
will Ask the child a generic question such as, "What do
articulation difficulties. It is essential that early lan- you need to do?" Following 5 sec of no response, the
guage attempts not be punished by requirements that teacher will Say what is expected in the form of a simple
are too strict. However, there is constant yet gradual direction, "Put on your shoes." A gesture may then be
encouragement to expand the length and complexity of added to Show or direct the child's attention to the
utterances. shoes. If the direction is not followed within time limits,
Most speech can be systematically shaped in the con- the teacher moves to the Do prompt, using gentle
text of naturally occurring toddler center activities. physical guidance to help the child put on the shoes. At
Thus, snack is a powerful time for shaping requests of any level that the child completes the designated task,
varying degrees of complexity. Specially targeted vo- the child is provided with praise and access to a pre-
cabulary words are taught in a daily free-play zone that ferred activity (e.g., "Big boys who put on their shoes
contains toys that provide opportunities to learn tar- can go to the playground!"). This procedure is a modi-
geted words. Body parts are taught during diaper fication of the Ask-Say-Do format used in the initial
changing or toilet times. However, any speech or lan- Toddler Center (O'Brien et al., 1979). However, many
guage steps that appear challenging for a toddler with toddlers with autism have been found to benefit from
autism are shifted to one-to-one instruction as a safe- the systematic addition of a gestured cue. The initial
guard that there are sufficient opportunities for acqui- delay was added to remind teachers to provide the op-
sition to occur. portunity for task completion prior to giving directions.
Active social instruction. At toddler ages, children Promotion of engagement. Careful attention to the
with autism are easily encouraged to play near typically selection, display, and rotation of toys is the primary
developing children. Thus, a toddler can be picked up means of securing child engagement. However, instruc-
and settled down with favorite toys that are located tion in engagement is also constant throughout the day,
near typically developing peers, or toys of interest to in all activities. When a child is not engaged in mean-
typically developing peers can be placed near children ingful activity, the free-play zone manager redirects the
with autism. Isolated play is simply not an option, in the child to a classroom toy. If this effort is unsuccessful in
classroom or on the playground. securing the child's engagement, the teacher makes a
When children have become accustomed to staying second attempt to help the child find a classroom toy
near other children, teachers begin to encourage them that will be of interest. If a third attempt is needed to
to play in the same or similar activities as their peers. secure the child's engagement, the free-play manager
Research at Walden demonstrated that children are brings down the child's hobby box, which contains toys
more likely to receive social approaches from other that were preselected based on prior observations of
children if they are engaged in similar activities (Me- the child's sustained toy play. Additional detail on
Gee & Paradis, 1996). Classroom games are used to means of securing and maintaining engagement in the
encourage children to watch other children, and to imi- Walden Preschool have been previously reported, and
tate at least the gross motor actions of their peers. identical systems are in place in the toddler center (Me-
All the children in Toddler Center must learn how to Gee & Daly, 1999b; McGee et al., 1991).
share, or at least learn not to be aggressive (as in biting) Checklist based staff training procedures. A network
to obtain toys they want. Walden employs a 2 minute of training and supervisory procedures ensures that the
sharing rule that toddlers quickly learn; the rule grants Walden Toddler curriculum is implemented with con-
a child with the toy the option of playing with it for the sistency. At any given time, a lead teacher and three

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 Incidental Teaching Approach 143

other teachers are present during each classroom ses- To permit objective evaluation of the benefits of be-
sion. ginning intervention when children are as young as pos-
Lead teachers are responsible for keeping the class- sible, priority for admission to the Toddler Program has
room schedule running according to plan, as well as been given to the youngest child on the waiting list.
direct instruction with the children. However, the major However, openings for older children sometimes occur
job of the lead teacher is to provide ongoing training in the preschool or pre-kindergarten. The Emory Au-
and feedback to the zone teachers and to keep staff tism Resource Center offers a variant of the home
morale high. Hands-on training consists of checklist based component of the program to children of all ages.
based performance appraisals that were developed for
each teaching zone/routine (McGee, Daly, & Jacobs, Measures
1994). Lead teachers complete a minimum of two The overall project evaluation included multiple
checklists per day, rotating across teachers and times of measures of child outcomes, parent outcomes, and con-
the day. They also make sure that child progress is sumer satisfaction. A report is in preparation that de-
being tracked through a system of classroom assess- scribes the progress of a matched group of children who
ment probes. participated at Walden before and after the addition of
Special attention has been devoted to the prepara- the Toddler Program. However, for this report, prelimi-
tion of family liaisons, so that they can support and nary data for two child outcome measures are reported:
assist parents in implementing the home based compo- children's language and social behavior during ongoing
nent of the program. The initial training sequence in- activities at the Toddler Center.
cludes role-play and videotaped self-evaluation, didac- Verbalizations included children's distribution of
tic presentations on professionalism, performance spoken dictionary listed words across their time in the
based checklist feedback, and modeling by the clinical center. Thus, the data provide an estimate of how much
coordinator. Finally, inservice training materials, in- of the time a child spends talking. It is a conservative
cluding videotape examples, have been packaged for measure because it has been obtained not only in con-
use in ongoing refinement of skills. The clinical coor- ditions of teacher interactions, but also during transi-
dinator occasionally attends home sessions with the tions, meals, and circle activities.
family liaisons, in order to provide supervision and to Peer proximity is defined as remaining within 3 ft of
maintain direct contact with the parents. another child, irrespective of interaction with or recog-
nition by the target child. This variable is essentially the
Child Outcomes inverse of active social avoidance, because the teachers
Description of Participating Children With Autism constantly redirect isolated children to be near their
A total of 28 children with autism participated in the peers.
Walden Toddler Program at Emory for at least 6 Data samples represent the group of children with
months, which was the criteria established for including autism during 5 min videotaped observations of each
a child in this program evaluation. The average age at child obtained daily for the first 10 consecutive days
program entry was 2 years, 5 months and average age at and the last 10 consecutive days of enrollment. A ro-
the time of exit from the toddler program was 3 years, tating videotaping schedule ensured that children were
5 months. Children with special needs were eligible for observed in noncontrived situations that varied across
program entry if an experienced physician or psycholo- activities and different times of day. Videotapes were
gist had given them a diagnosis of autism, autism spec- scored for occurrence and nonoccurrence of verbaliza-
trum disorder, or pervasive developmental disorder- tions and peer proximity using a partial interval sam-
not otherwise specified. Diagnostic confirmation was pling method, which alternated 10 sec observational in-
achieved through child observation and standardized tervals with 5 sec recording intervals. Interobserver
autism assessments, including the Autism Diagnostic agreement was sampled on approximately one third of
Interview (Lord, Rutter, & LeCouteur, 1994), the Au- each child's videotapes, and percentage agreement ex-
tism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (Lord, Rutter, & ceeded the 800/0 criteria established a priori.
DiLavore, 1996), and the Childhood Autism Rating
Scale (Schopler, Reichler, & Renner, 1986). Results
Children with autism were accepted regardless of in- Data on generalized use of language in the Toddler
tellectual and developmental functioning. For reasons Center show that 360/0 of the children with autism emit-
of safety, children were required to be ambulatory to ted verbalizations at program entry (mean age = 2
participate in the program (a requirement that has sel- years, 5 months), although much of the language of
dom delayed entry to Walden). The participants were a verbal children consisted of echolalic or perseverative
diverse group of children with and without autism, in- speech. At the time of exit from the Toddler Center
cluding 38 % who were from minority backgrounds and (mean age = 3 years, 5 months), 82% of the toddlers
31 % who qualified for scholarships based on economic with autism were verbalizing meaningful words. Thus,
need. the majority of Walden toddlers entered preschool with

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144 McGee, Morrier, and Daly

functional, expressive language. These results stand in onstrations of incidental teaching with children with au-
sharp contrast to reports that 500/0 of children with au- tism, it was necessary to omit the child initiation
tism never develop functional speech (Lord & Paul, component because the children had no skills in making
1997). choices (McGee et al., 1983). Similarly, a sensory inte-
An example of social progress is evident in a measure gration approach that requires time investment in
of the amount of time that children with autism spent in brushing a child's arms, or that permits a child to relax
close proximity (within 3 ft) to other children. Twenty while rolled up in a blanket under a table, does not mix
of twenty-eight (71 0/0) of the children with autism well with engagement procedures in the incidental
showed improvement on this measure. Of the 8 chil- teaching curriculum. Therefore, we assume that parents
dren who showed decreases in peer proximity, 7 re- are best able to select the intervention procedures that
mained within expected ranges for same aged typical they prefer for their child, and we encourage them to
peers. In sum, only 1 of 28 children failed to demon- remain consistent with the approach that they have
strate increased or acceptable levels of peer proximity. chosen. In short, we take the position that the "more is
The primary limitations of the data presented are the better" tenet applies to hours of intervention, and not
absence of markers of quality improvements in lan- to various methods of intervention.
guage and social skills. Although space does not permit There is an urgent need to translate early interven-
an exhaustive review, improvements were obtained for tion research on autism to practice. It is tragic when
measures of children's verbal interactions with their parents of a 5- or 6-year-old child first learn that their
parents, vocabulary size, social responsiveness to par- child's differences are due to autism, and that they have
ents and teachers, levels of engagement in toy play, and
missed the most precious intervention years. Many par-
independent self-care skills. In short, preliminary re-
ents whose children are diagnosed early experience
sults suggest that the scope of what may be learned
similar frustration, because there is no credible treat-
during the preschool years can be dramatically altered
ment option available near their home. When possible,
by ... beginning intervention during the toddler years.
some families move across country in search of treat-
ment for their children. Yet geographic proximity is
Practice and Policy Issues
seldom a guarantee of quality early intervention be-
Two controversial Walden practices bear some dis-
cause Walden, like many intervention programs, con-
cussion, including a verbal only approach to language
instruction and an incidental teaching only procedural sistently has long waiting lists. In short, parents with
format. Our position is anchored in philosophy and ex- financial resources find themselves with few options,
perience, because there are little data available to ei- and families with no resources have virtually no op-
ther support or refute these unilateral positions. tions.
Virtually all parents of children with autism place a Unfortunately, most publicly funded early interven-
high priority on their children learning to talk. Our tion programs offer an insufficient number of formal
documented experience has been that incidental teach- instructional hours, combined with a lack of the spe-
ing is nearly always effective in producing functional cialized curricula needed to promote constant engage-
expressive verbal language. In designing the Toddler ment in children with autism. Early intervention pro-
Program, it seemed logical that if vigorous language viders cannot obtain maximum developmental progress
instruction began from the outset of early intervention, when children with autism receive an insufficient num-
children would develop language earlier and be better ber of planned instructional hours. In sum, it is unlikely
prepared to engage in verbal interactions with peers that most publicly funded early intervention programs
during preschool. It is recognized that many respected are having substantial impact.
colleagues, including some on our interdisciplinary Further, current early intervention services are pri-
panel, believe strongly that alternative communication marily delivered in home based formats, and few inclu-
strategies may facilitate future language development sive toddler centers are available. Although it is theo-
(cf. Bondy & Frost, 1994; Quill, 1997). However, prior retically possible to replicate the Walden program with
experience with incidental teaching suggests that chil- the home based component alone, such practice places
dren with autism will be most motivated to develop an enormous burden on families. Moreover, many
speech if they need to talk to access the many desirable families do not have access to typically developing
toys and activities that fill their environment. peers, who are essential to beginning social interven-
In addition, full Walden program replications do not tion when children are young. As the natural environ-
mix other instructional formats with incidental teach- ment requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities
ing, because procedural shifts are often confusing to Education Act take hold in the nation's early interven-
children. For example, the compliance training needed tion systems, it should be recognized that child care
to do effective discrete trial instruction can be counter- centers are part of the natural environment for most
productive to the use of procedures that require spon- toddlers. Center based intervention, in combination
taneous child initiations. Thus, in one of the first dem- with home based intervention, offers children with au-

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 Incidental Teaching Approach 145

tism and their families the advantages of intensive early school settings. Journal of Autism and Developmental Dis-
education and normal family functioning. orders, 20, 23-31.
There remain many empirical and logistical gaps in Hart, B., & Risley, T. R. (1968). Establishing the use of de-
scriptive adjectives in the spontaneous speech of disadvan-
knowledge of how to provide effective early interven- taged children. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1,
tion to children with autism, yet the importance of do- 109-120.
ing so is evident. Researchers need to work on ways to Hart, B., & Risley, T. R. (1974). Using preschool materials to
create more feasible and cost-effective models of inter- modify the language of disadvantaged children. Journal of
Applied Behavior Analysis, 7, 243-256.
vention. Innovative administrators need to divert the
Hart, B., & Risley, T. R. (1975). Incidental teaching of lan-
funds they used to invest in litigation against parents guage in the preschool. Journal of Applied Behavior Analy-
into substantive program improvements and real inter- sis, 8, 411-420.
vention choices for parents. If we can all rise to the Hart, B., & Risley, T. R. (1999). Children learning to talk in
occasion, it should be possible to achieve dramatically American families. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.
Herbert-Jackson, E., O'Brien, M., Porterfield, J., & Risley, T.
expanded benefit for the nation's children with autism R. (1977). The infant center: A complete guide to organizing
and their families. and managing infant day care. Baltimore: University Park
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