Santino was vocally responsive today. I used verbal imitation and contingency strategies to increase his adaptive behaviors, compliance, and functional speech. As he was particularly vocal, I repeated the same sounds or words that he initiated, like an echo, which in turn stimulated him to vocalize more. I then introduced a few novel words to encourage him to repeat the pattern of imitation. While results have as yet been inconsistent, this type of engagement serves to engage his attention as well as shape speech. When inside the classroom, we worked on activities involving the systematic repetition of music and movement, and we continued the activities when we went outdoors for a brief time. Santino has been more responsive and readily compliant when shown an outstretched hand to return indoors and repeated, "Let's go," after me when I said, "Okay, let's go." When we returned indoors, Santino brought me his backpack and took out his bottle. After I poured in the Pediasure, I held it within sight but out of reach, attempting to elicit the word, "please, or the 'p' sound. I did this repeatedly without achieving the desired response; however, Santino did not grow frustrated as he used to when he first began in the school. I continued to hold the desired object out of his reach, hoping to elicit an approximation to the word 'please'. Finally, I said, "Come on now, say please," and Santino readily repeated the phrase, "Come on now!" He was reinforced with verbal praise, a hug, and a high five for his echoic verbalization. Santino appears to absorb a vast amount of information through imitation and repetition, therefore vocal imitation strategies will continue to be employed as an effective technique by which to stimulate and elicit speech and adaptive functioning.