This study measured the differential effects of simplified and typical verbal antecedents on acquisition of picture discriminations for four preschool children with autism. During baseline probes, participants emitted no correct selection responses to pictures of common stimuli during either simplified or typical verbal antecedent conditions. Using an adapted alternating treatments design during training, instructors presented a simplified verbal antecedent (i.e., "Give me car") or a typical verbal antecedent (i.e., "One of these is a car. Which one is it?"), and differentially reinforced participants' correct selection responses given the target picture and two non-targets. Results showed that one participant emitted more correct responses during simplified than typical verbal antecedent conditions, one participant emitted more correct responses during typical than simple verbal antecedent conditions, and there was no clear difference for the other two participants.