Bidirectional naming (BN) is a behavioral repertoire characterized by the emergence of listener
responses to objects/events after teaching speaker responses to those objects/events, and vice
versa. The consolidation of this repertoire as a generalized behavioral relation leads to
incidental bidirectional naming (IBN) — the emergence of both speaker and listener responses
to objects/events after exposure to their names — which is considered a pivotal repertoire for
language development. The multiple exemplar instruction (MEI) is a procedure that has been
pointed out as capable of inducing IBN in autistic individuals. This study aimed to evaluate
the effect of MEI with rotation of listener (auditory-visual match-to-sample-AVMTS) and
speaker (intraverbal tact) trials, without echoic requirement, in inducing BN and IBN in two
autistic children. Participants could be exposed to up to five experimental stages, depending
on their performance: 1) BN and IBN pre-tests; 2) MEI; 3) BN and IBN post-tests; 4) BN and
IBN generalization tests; and 5) BN and IBN maintenance tests. Results showed that MEI did
not result in the emergence of BN and IBN, with participants displaying unidirectional listener
naming since the pre-tests. Methodological aspects to be evaluated in future studies on the role
of MEI in the induction of BN and IBN are discussed, including the effects of requiring or
blocking echoics during MEI, establishing the reinforcing function of the social consequences
used in teaching AVMTS and intraverbal tact, and the reinforcing function of observation
responses to stimuli.
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