Echoic
A verbal operant in which a person repeats what someone else says; the response matches the spoken model sound for sound.
An echoic is vocal imitation. Someone says a word or phrase and the learner repeats it: the RBT says "ball" and the child says "ball". The antecedent is verbal, and the response has point-to-point correspondence and the same form as the model, meaning each part of the response matches part of what was heard. Echoics are usually reinforced by praise or other social reinforcement.
Echoic skills are important because they make it possible to prompt other verbal operants. Once a learner can repeat words, the RBT can use an echoic prompt to teach a mand ("Say 'cookie'" when the learner wants a cookie), a tact or an intraverbal, and then fade the prompt.
An echoic repetition is not the same as understanding. A learner who repeats "What's your name?" instead of answering is showing echoic behavior when an intraverbal answer is needed. In some learners, repeating speech without the intended function (echolalia) is something the supervisor may target with specific procedures.
Repeating signs or gestures is imitation and is usually treated separately from echoic behavior, which is vocal.
Example and non-example
| Example | The RBT says "Say 'apple'" and the child says "apple." The RBT says "Great saying apple!" |
|---|---|
| Non-example | The RBT asks "What do you eat?" and the child says "apple." The response does not match the words said, so it is an intraverbal, not an echoic. |
Don't confuse it with
| Intraverbal | Both start with someone else's words, but an echoic repeats them while an intraverbal responds with different words. |
|---|---|
| Tact | A tact is controlled by a nonverbal stimulus the learner perceives; an echoic is controlled by a spoken model. |
Test yourself
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Question 1What distinguishes an intraverbal from an echoic?
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A: Only an echoic matches the words that came before it. Both are controlled by someone else's words. An echoic repeats them (point-to-point correspondence), while an intraverbal is a different response, such as answering "cup" to "What do you drink from?"
- B: Those describe a mand and a tact, not an intraverbal and an echoic.
- C: Both can be one word or many; length does not define either.
- D: Both can be taught in any setting; the setting does not define them.
Task C.4 · 40-hour curriculum section A
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Question 2During a farm-animal game, the RBT says "moo" and the child immediately says "moo." Which verbal operant is this?
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D: Echoic. An echoic repeats a vocal model with the same sounds. Echoics are often used as prompts for mands and tacts in naturalistic teaching.
- A: The child is not asking for anything; they are repeating a sound.
- B: A tact is controlled by a nonverbal stimulus such as an object or picture, not by someone else's sound.
- C: An intraverbal is a different response to someone's words; this one matches them.
Task C.4 · 40-hour curriculum section A
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Question 3A client says "cracker" only right after the RBT says "cracker." What is the goal of the plan's prompt fading?
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A: For the client to ask for crackers with no model. The echoic is used as a prompt for the mand. Fading it moves control to the client's motivation, so the request happens on its own.
- B: Repeating more words is an echoic goal; here the echoic is the prompt to fade.
- C: Naming pictures is a tact goal, not a mand goal.
- D: The goal is to strengthen the request, not end it.
Task C.4 · 40-hour curriculum section A · 40-hour curriculum section E
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On the RBT exam
This term belongs to task C.4 Naturalistic teaching in content area C, Behavior Acquisition, which is 19 of the 75 scored questions.