Although previous studies have examined the effect of imitation training on speech intelligibility in children with autism, few studies have evaluated the effects of contingent and extended imitation training on the same. In addition, little is known about the relationship between the development of oral motor movement and speech intelligibility. Therefore, we need to focus on oral motor movement as a type of trained behavior. The aims of this study were (1) to investigate whether a child with autism had improved his or her speech intelligibility through contingent and extended imitation training and (2) to demonstrate the relationship between oral motor development and speech intelligibility. The boy who participated in this study was 8 years and 11 months old (MA : 2 years and 4 months old). We used multiple baseline designs across behaviors to examine the effects of the training on speech intelligibility. The target behaviors were (1) mouth open widely, (2) loudness of speech, and (3) sustained sound. At baseline, the experimenter modeled the target behavior, provided verbal praise, and handed out some snacks after all responses were given regardless of whether the response was correct or incorrect. During the training, when the child imitated the model correctly, the experimenter provided contingent imitation and extended imitation after which the child's next vocal imitation and extended imitation were elicited. The follow up was the same procedure as the one followed for the baseline. Prior to and after the training, the experimenter showed picture cards to the child and encouraged the child to say and to imitate the names of the cards to assess speech intelligibility. The result suggests that contingent imitation and extended imitation training facilitated oral motor development. The child's speech intelligibility also improved post assessment. Therefore, the finding suggests that a strong relationship exists between oral motor development and speech intelligibility.

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