It is in this natural environment where children learn to generalize the skills taught and transfer them to other settings and people; therefore, it is a procedure that is effective (Hart and Risley, 1975). Training in settings that are natural, increases the amount of instruction that can be provided to autistic children (McGee, Krantz, Mason, & McClannahan, 1983). Incidental teaching has an appropriate blend of systematic instruction and normalized environment for the child to learn (McGee, Morrier, & Daly, 1999). In addition, the procedure encourages children to make their own choices and aids social initiation since the initiations are being rewarded (McGee et al., 1999).

Incidental Teaching and Verbal Communication

Hart and Risley (1975) stated that the procedure is most common in a pre-school setting, since that is when most of the language is achieved. McGee and Daly (2007) developed a study that evaluated incidental teaching with three preschool aged boys with autism to promote the use of age appropriate social phrases. The study taught the social phrases, “All right” and “You know what?” with prompt fading, and transfer across teachings and settings (McGee & Daly 2007). The results of the study illustrated that the three young boys with ASD acquired the social phrases and were able to generalize the social phrases across different situations (McGee & Daly 2007).

A benefit of incidental teaching is that teachers, parents, or peers can do the instructions, and this influences the generalization of the skills taught, which ultimately improves the child’s learning and quality of life (Hart &Risley, 1975). Incidental teaching can be done without disrupting in the child