Role of Applied Behavior Analysis in Developing Expressive Verbal Communication in Intermediate Learners with Autism

Verbal behavior is a fundamental mode of communication and human interaction. Any form of obstruction in the performance of verbal behavior can lead to life-long impairment. In this paper, I want to do a literature review of four research articles, which focus on different treatment strategies based in applied behavior analysis, to improve the verbal and expressive communication of children with autism. I also want to propose a methodology for intervention based in applied behavior analysis which can improve all the different operants of verbal behavior. The proposed intervention involves a combination of visual perceptual aids, verbal shaping, stimulus fading and stimulus transfer. As my objective is to improve the communication of intermediate learners who are more functional, we can improve evidencebased music therapy as well in eveloping speech structure and consistency in learners.