Variations in prompt delay procedures are used in discrete-trial training to reduce the occurrence of errors before task mastery. However, the variations are seldom compared systematically. Using an adapted alternating treatments design, the present study compared progressive prompt delay with 2-s or 5-s constant prompt delay, on the acquisition of an expressive labeling task in four participants with autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability. While all three prompt delay methods led to mastery of the tasks, albeit only when the tasks were simplified for one participant, progressive prompt delay generally proved the most efficient method on several measures, including lower error rates. This is consistent with the nature of the progressive prompt delay procedure which allows less time for errors to occur early in training. It is provisionally concluded that selection of progressive prompt delay is supported as a wise first choice option for clinicians, as a history of high error rates may impair later learning.

离散试用训练中使用了及时延迟程序的各种变化，以减少在掌握任务之前发生错误。但是，很少有系统地比较这些变化。使用适应性交替治疗设计，本研究比较了四名自闭症谱系障碍和智力障碍参与者在获得表达标记任务时的进行性提示延迟与2 s或5 s恒定提示延迟。尽管所有三种即时延迟方法都可以精通任务，尽管只是简化了一个参与者的任务，但渐进式即时延迟通常在多种方法上都被证明是最有效的方法，包括较低的错误率。这与渐进的提示延迟程序的性质是一致的，该程序允许更少的时间使错误在训练的早期发生。