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We assessed whether 2 preschoolers with autism learned to discriminate between the sounds of musical instruments more rapidly than the spoken names of the instruments. After the children learned the sound-object relations more rapidly than the name-object relations, we then evaluated a prompt-delay procedure for transferring stimulus control from the sounds to the names of the instruments. The prompt-delay procedure facilitated the acquisition of name– object relations for both children. DESCRIPTORS: autism, language delay, stimulus control, transfer, verbal stimulus _______________________________________________________________________________ Language impairment is one of the defining characteristics of childhood autism (America