Debra Paone, Ph.D., BCBA

Douglass Developmental Disabilities Center

Verbal operants

Echoic: imitation ¨C saying juice after someone else says juice ¨C reinforcement is social/not the juice

Mand: request ¨C saying juice when thirsty and you want juice ¨C the reinforcement is obtaining the juice

Three Term Contingency

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Establish an environment that is associated with good things

The child will receive access to his/her preferred items when he/she approaches the work area and instructor

The instructor and the work area will become associated with good things

The goal of pairing is for the child want to go to the work area or to be with the instructor

Definition: a type of verbal behavior where the response is controlled by a motivational variable (MO)

Deprivation/Satiation

A mand names its reinforcer

Allows the individual to spontaneously request needed or desired items

A mand benefits the speaker by obtaining specific reinforcement ¨C satisfying the MO

Requesting a drink when thirsty ("I want juice")

Asking for a break

Problem behavior: Yelling, hitting, throwing objects

Giving a jar to someone to open ("Help")

Asking, "Where is it?"

Present an opportunity or wait for the child to show interest in something.

Withhold the desired item or an essential item required to complete task (crayon, straw, remote)

Model the mand, wait 2-3 seconds for response

Immediately reward the child with the object after the mand or an approximation of the mand is given

Systematically add new targets

Train in natural environments

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Existing motivation/interests

Consumable

Short duration of contact

Easy to remove from student

Easy to deliver

Easy to deliver on multiple occasions

Reinforcers that always seem strong

Avoid words that have little communicative value (more, yes, no, please)

Avoid too general words (i.e., more)

Verbal:

-Echolalic

-Exhibiting behavior that we can

use to teach them to

functionally communicate

PECS:

-Strong visual-perceptual skills

-Weak auditory skills

-Nonverbal

-Beginning of mand training for

learners who are vocal but not

imitating

-Fade pictures quickly

-Difficulty imitating or producing series of

movements that would require signs

Sign:

-Weak visual-perceptual skills

-Don¡¯t attend to pictures

-Strong motor imitation skills

-Families who have difficulty

organizing pictures for PECS

What?

Track both prompted and independent mands

Over time independent mands should increase

Can develop goal for # of mands in a session (i.e., minimum 1/minute)

Parent/Instructor always knows what will function as a reinforcer

Decreases challenging behaviors

-Reduce need to request through

disruptive behaviors

-Appropriate requesting skills

reduce learner frustration

Imitation

Under control of someone¡¯s vocal behavior

Use to teach other verbal operants

Use as a teaching tool

Used to teach other verbal operants

Under control of visual (nonverbal) stimulus

Naming/identifying nonverbal stimuli (objects, events, actions)

Includes skills of retrieval & articulation

Increase the capacity to comment

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After 5-10 mands for reinforcers have been established

Cooperation with instructors

Some echoic and imitation skills

Emerging matching to sample skills

Concurrent with teaching receptive skills

Increases ability to demonstrate joint attention (I see a ___; Look, it is a __)

Increases labeling skills

Begin teaching tacts with words that have been acquired as mands

If learner has a strong echoic repertoire, can consider starting with new words

Begin with actual objects present in learner¡¯s environment

Move to pictures as quickly as possible

Instruction, "What is this?; What do you see?"

When features have been acquired, begin to build on tacts

Generalization procedures should include different examples, pictures, carrier phrases, etc.

Under control of another person¡¯s verbal behavior; the antecedent stimulus is another person¡¯s verbal behavior

Different from the echoic in that it does not exactly match another¡¯s verbal behavior

Definition: behavior that allows a speaker to talk about objects and events even though those objects and events are not physically present

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Includes answering questions and participating in conversations

Early intraverbals can include fill-in-the blank, beginning "wh" questions

Fill in songs; Fill in familiar phrases

Teaches staying on topic

Many learners with autism can answer questions when item is present

Many learners are not able to respond when item is not present

Can use transfer procedures to teach

A response the learner can already produce

Teaching learner to produce in same/similar response in another situation

Use as a starting point what the learner can already produce

Learner is more likely to repeat same behavior/say same word he previously did

Gradually add ¡®distance¡¯ between responses until learner can respond to new SD

Tact to Intraverbal Transfer

I: "What do we play with?" (blocks present)

L: "Blocks"

I: (Puts blocks behind back) "What do we play with?"

L: "Blocks"

Fill-in to Intraverbal Transfer

I: "We play with _____"

L: "Blocks"

I: What do we play with?"

L: "Blocks"

Echoic to Intraverbal Transfer

I: "Say, car"

L: "Car"

I: "What do we ride in?"

L: "Car"

I: "What¡¯s this?"

L: "Ball"

I: "What do you want?"

L: "Ball"

For some learners tact trial could follow mand trial

Physically assist child to touch desired item (physical prompt) or model correct response

Transfer receptive response to a label

I: "Touch the car"

L: "Car" while point to the car

I: "What¡¯s this?"

L: "Car"

Transfer a mastered response to a new condition

I: "Say car"

L: "Car"

I: "What¡¯s this?"

L: "Car"

If learner has used fill-ins in the past, this response can be transferred to the tact

Fill in responses have no requirement of a response from a learner

It is easier to use; helps avoid too many question when teaching language

I: "We wash hands in the ___"

L: "Sink"

I: "What¡¯s this?"

L: "Sink"

Function (what an object is used for)

-Point to the one you read

-Show me what you sleep in

Class (group or category)

-Show me what is clothing

-Touch all the animals

Teach after learner has 50 words- mands, tacts, receptive discriminations

Teach after generalized tact and receptive responses

Teach after different carrier phrases for tacts/receptive disrciminations

Learner must be able to tact parts/adjectives associated with objects to avoid rote responding

Receptively identify and ideally label (i.e., whiskers, paws, furs, tail) before using features in FFC training

Choose most relevant to learner¡¯s life at that time

Functions are typically developed first

Ask a typically developing child to describe a item to determine appropriate response

Adjectives, nouns, verbs can all be taught as classes

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Verbal operants that the child has acquired should be used in the natural environment

Set up the opportunity to use skills

Feature (big) ¨C mand for cookie ¨C ask which one (show one big and one small)

Getting a drink ¨C ask what do you drink from?