Receptive language is a basic behavioral repertoire that many children with autism have difficulties acquiring. This difficulty may be caused by several factors suggesting the need for case-by-case analysis and the development of multiple intervention strategies. This paper outlines a strategy that has been effective in establishing receptive labeling in some children for whom conventional methods proved ineffective. The present strategy emphasizes the development of tool skills that are conjectured to subserve receptive labeling. These tools skills are developed by teaching a form of imitation that may be termed "selection-based imitation" (SBI). The present strategy should be recognized as clinically based and may be subjected to more rigorous investigation and further refinements.