Generalized Negatively Reinforced Manding in Children with Autism

Individuals with developmental disabilities are often unable to influence their social environment in traditional ways (i.e., vocal language) and frequently exhibit challenging behaviors (e.g., aggression and self-injury) because such behaviors were previously reinforced under similar conditions. While the area of positive reinforcement manding has been well-documented and empirically validated, there is less research in the area of negatively reinforced manding—particularly in the area of negatively reinforced manding of nonpreferred items. Using a multiple baseline design across participants, this study sought to teach three children with autism to replace their challenging behaviors with more socially appropriate ways to request the removal of nonpreferred items. Results showed that all participants were able to learn the negatively reinforced mand response and these mand responses were generalized to other untrained items. In addition to extending the research in the area, the study empirically defined a procedure for teaching negatively reinforced manding of nonpreferred items. Moreover, teaching the mand response resulted in quality of life improvements for all participants and their families.     

Teaching a Child With Autism to Mand for Information Using “How”

Children with autism often do not learn to mand for information without structured teaching. Studies have demonstrated that manipulation of establishing operations (EOs), prompts, prompt fading, and differential reinforcement are effective in teaching children with autism to ask "wh" questions such as "what," "who," and "where." To date, no studies have evaluated procedures to teach children with autism to mand for information using "how." Teaching the mand, "how" is uniquely challenging because once the information regarding how to do something is provided, the EO may no longer be present. The following study evaluated a procedure to teach one child with autism to mand for information using "how" to obtain information to complete multiple activities. The results have implications for clinical application and future research on contriving EOs to teach the mand, "how."     

Expanding Vocal Requesting Repertoires via Relational Responding in Adults with Severe Developmental Disabilities

The purpose of this project was to demonstrate untrained vocal requests in three adults with severe developmental disabilities. Specifically, we evaluated whether a history of reinforced relational responding would give rise to untrained vocal requests for novel items. Participants were first taught to request preferred items using their category names. They were then taught conditional discriminations between pictures of preferred items that were categorically related. Finally, participants were tested for their abilities to request items that had not been originally presented during request training, using their category names. All participants demonstrated untrained requests, and for some participants, changes in the mand repertoire were accompanied by changes in the tact repertoire. Some participants also showed generalization of skills across settings.     

Emergent Intraverbal and Reverse Intraverbal Behavior Following Listener Training in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

We evaluated whether intraverbal and reverse intraverbal behavior emerged following listener training in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Six participants were each taught three sets of three “when?” questions in listener training. A multiple baseline design across behaviors (stimulus sets) was used to assess the effects of listener training. Results showed that intraverbal behavior emerged following listener training for five out of six participants. One participant received additional listener training and intraverbal training before intraverbal behavior emerged. Furthermore, reverse intraverbal responding occurred across all three sets of questions for three of the six participants. Establishing listener behavior may be a pathway for emergent intraverbal and reverse intraverbal responding in children with ASD. Future research could examine what skill repertoire may facilitate such transfer.     

Teaching Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder to Mand “Why?”

For most children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), manding for information is an important skill that must be systematically taught. Although previous studies have evaluated interventions for teaching other mands for information, to date no studies have demonstrated effective procedures for teaching the mand “why?” The purpose of the present study was to teach 3 children with ASD to mand “why?” under relevant establishing operation conditions in 3 distinct scenarios. A trial-unique multiple-exemplar procedure was used to promote generalization and increase the value of information provided across trials. All 3 participants learned to mand “why?” in all 3 scenarios within a mean of 18 sessions (range 14–21 sessions), demonstrated generalization to novel stimuli and settings, and maintained this skill over time. Social validity for the intervention had an overall mean of 5.88 (range 1–7).     

Emergence of Mands and Tacts of Novel Objects among Preschool Children

According to Skinner''s (1957) analysis of verbal behavior, the mand and the tact are functionally independent verbal operants, each of which is acquired through a unique history of reinforcement. The present study attempted to replicate the findings of Lamarre and Holland (1985), who empirically demonstrated functional independence of mands and tacts in typically developing preschool children. Five children participated. All were initially trained to complete two 4-piece assembly tasks. Four children were then trained to tact the four pieces that comprised one of the assembly tasks, and to mand for the four pieces that comprised the other task, using arbitrary vocal response forms. The remaining child received tact training only, and only on one task. The effects of training on the untrained operant were evaluated in a multiple-probe design across tasks. Following mand training, 4 out of 4 children reliably emitted tacts under testing conditions, while the effects of tact training differed across participants. The results differ from those of Lamarre and Holland, but are not necessarily surprising from the point of view of either Skinner''s analysis or more recent behavioral accounts of language. Future research should attempt to identify variables that affect transfer between mand and tact relations.     

The Effects of Deprivation, Presession Exposure, and Preferences on Teaching Manding to Children with Autism

The effects of at least 23-hr deprivation, 5-min presession exposure, and individual preference on the acquisition of mands were investigated in these studies. Two boys who were 2.5 years old and diagnosed with autism participated in the studies. Preference assessments were conducted to identify preference levels of various toys. Toys of various preferences were then assigned to either a 23-hr deprivation or 5-min presession exposure condition for mand training. Both deprivation and preference level affected acquisition of mands. Implications for teaching children to mand are discussed.     

Stimulus-Stimulus Pairing and Subsequent Mand Acquisition of Children with Various Levels of Verbal Repertoires

Effects of a stimulus-stimulus pairing procedure on the subsequent acquisition of mand operants were investigated. An attempt was made to shape novel sounds that emerged through the pairing procedure into a mand. Six children, aged two to five years, with moderate to severe language and communication delays, participated. Two conditions were used following the pairing condition: postpairing and direct reinforcement. The emergence of mands was compared across these conditions. An additional analysis was made of the relation between participants'' baseline verbal repertoires and the effects of the pairing and the emergence of mands. Results indicate the possibility of stimulus control from a stimulus-stimulus pairing to mand as shown in two of the participants who had demonstrated high rates of vocal play and low to no verbal repertoire prior to this study. Target vocal sounds during postpairing and direct reinforcement condition remained at zero to low levels for participants with high verbal repertoire and little vocal play, warranting future studies on relations between the pre-existing verbal repertoire and the effectiveness of stimulus-stimulus pairing.     

Teaching Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders to Mand for the Removal of Stimuli That Prevent Access to Preferred Items

Mand training is often a primary focus in early language instruction and typically includes mands that are positively reinforced. However, mands maintained by negative reinforcement are also important skills to teach. These include mands to escape aversive demands or unwanted items. Another type of negatively reinforced mand important to teach involves the removal of a stimulus that prevents access to a preferred activity. We taught 5 participants diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders to mand for the removal of a stimulus in order to access a preferred item that had been blocked. An evaluation was conducted to determine if participants responded differentially when the establishing operations for the preferred item were present versus absent. All participants learned to mand for the removal of the stimulus exclusively under conditions when the establishing operation was present.     

Mands for Information Using “How” Under EO-Absent and EO-Present Conditions

The present study replicates and extends previous research on teaching “How?” mands for information to children with autism. The experimental preparation involved mand training in the context of completing preferred activities and included training and testing under conditions when the establishing operation (EO) was present and absent. Results show that two children with autism acquired mands for information using How? only in situations where information was valuable (i.e., the EO was present); they then consistently made use of the information provided in activity completion. Generalization to novel, untaught situations was assessed.     

Training and Generalization of Peer-Directed Mands With Non-vocal Children With Autism

The current investigation evaluated the effects of extinction and prompts on training and generalization of peer-directed mands for preferred items using a picture exchange communication system with 2 children diagnosed with autism. Results showed that independent mands with a peer increased during treatment for both participants, generalized to a novel peer without explicit training for 1 participant and following training for the second participant, and maintained in a more naturalistic setting that simulated a free-play activity in a classroom.     

Using Textual Prompts to Teach Mands for Information Using “Who?”

Recent research on teaching mands for information to children with language deficits has focused on manipulating establishing operations (EOs). However, only a few of those studies have programmed both EO conditions (in which information is needed) and abolishing operation (AO) conditions (in which information has already been provided) to ensure functional use of the mand for information. Shillingsburg, Bowen, Valentino, and Pierce (Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 47, 136–150, 2014) provided a successful demonstration of differential responding between EO and AO conditions demonstrating control of the response by the relevant EO. Echoic prompts resulted in successful mands for information “Who?” One limitation of this study was that the participants did not re-issue the initial mand upon approaching the named adult to retrieve the item. This may be problematic in the natural environment as it is unlikely that the named adult would know what the child was looking for. The current study sought to replicate and expand previous research by using textual prompts to teach the mand “Who?” in four children diagnosed with autism (Phase 1) and by requiring the mand for the item be re-issued upon approaching the named adult (Phase 2). Textual prompts resulted in differential use of the mand for information during EO and AO conditions for all of the participants. Additionally, three of the four participants who did not re-issue the mand to the named adult during the Phase 2 baseline did so following the intervention. Overall, results support the use of textual prompts to teach mands for information to children with autism.

     

Observing Tacting Increases Uninstructed Tacts in Children with Autism

The effects of observing an adult emitting tacts on children’s rate of uninstructed (i.e., “spontaneous”) tacts were examined in three children diagnosed with autism. Each participant was exposed to two conditions in four settings each: in condition 1, participants received 20 trials of teacher-initiated interactions in which the child was asked to tact 20 objects during 5 min. Condition 2 was identical to condition 1 except that the teacher also tacted 20 objects interspersed with the 20 tact trials. The number of uninstructed tacts was recorded in both conditions. Children emitted between 1.58 and 2.68 times more uninstructed tacts in condition 2 than in condition 1. These results indicate that teachers’ emission of tacts increases the emission of uninstructed tacts in children with autism.     

Assessing Transfer of Stimulus Control Procedures Across Learners With Autism

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of 2 transfer of stimulus control procedures to teach tacting to individuals with autism. Five participants with differing verbal skills were assessed by a subset of the ABLLS prior to intervention, then were taught 36 previously unknown tacts using the receptive-echoic-tact (r-e-t) and echoic-tact (e-t) transfer procedures. Each transfer method was used separately to establish different tacts, in a multiple baseline design across tacts for 3 sets of stimuli. The results showed that 4 out of 5 participants (who demonstrated mands, tacts, echoics, and sometimes intraverbals prior to the study) acquired all targeted tacts when either r-e-t or e-t training was presented. One participant (who emitted no verbal operants at the onset of the study) did not acquire any tacts. While some participants appeared to learn more quickly with one transfer method, neither method emerged as more efficient with learners with fewer or more extensive verbal skills. The results indicate that both transfer methods promoted the acquisition of tacts for learners with autism with at least minimal verbal skills.     

Evaluation of single and mixed verbal operant arrangements for teaching mands and tacts

The purpose of this series of experiments was to evaluate the effects of mixed mand-tact arrangements on the acquisition of mands and tacts in preschool-aged children. In Experiment 1, the effects of three training arrangements (mand-only training, tact-only training, and mand-tact training) were investigated with 3 typically developing children. Rates of acquisition in single (mand-only and tact-only) versus mixed (mand-tact) presentation were comparable, in contrast to earlier investigations. Experiment 2 attempted to clarify the equivocal findings of Experiment 1 by directly replicating the Carroll and Hesse (1987) investigation with 2 typically developing children. Results again demonstrated no clear benefit of mixed verbal operant training on tact acquisition. In Experiment 3, these same arrangements were evaluated with a boy with autism and included assessments to determine that a relevant establishing operation was in effect prior to each mand training session. Experiment 3 again failed to demonstrate the facilitative effects of mand-tact training on the acquisition of mands or tacts. Taken together, the data from these three experiments fail to support the improved efficiency of mand-tact training suggested by prior studies. Findings are discussed in the context of future research investigating mixed verbal operant arrangements.     

The effects of tact training on stereotypic vocalizations in children with autism

This study was a systematic extension of Karmali, Greer, Nuzzulo-Gomez, Ross, and Rivera-Valdes (2005) and Ahearn, Clark, MacDonald, and Chung (2007). We investigated the effects of a tact correction procedure on stereotypic vocalizations in 4 children diagnosed with autism who ranged in age from 6 to 16 years. Participants had limited vocal verbal repertoires and were primarily dependent on prompts for the emission of appropriate vocalizations. A multiple-baseline design across participants was used. Data were collected on instances of stereotypic vocalizations and independent tacts during baseline conditions and on instances of stereotypic vocalizations, independent tacts, and echoic-tacts during intervention. Procedural integrity and social validity data were also obtained. The results indicated a decrease in stereotypic vocalizations for 3 of the 4 participants and a slight increase in appropriate vocal verbal behavior (i.e., tacting) for all participants. The study provides support for the use of tact correction procedures to decrease stereotypic vocalizations and increase appropriate vocalizations in children with autism.     

The effects of alternating mand and tact training on the acquisition of tacts

Two training procedures were compared with respect to the average number of training trials it took to teach new verbal responses to normal children. Mand contingencies were alternated with tact contingencies in one condition while only tact contingencies were in effect in the other condition. Normal, preschool children served as subjects and toy parts were the objects that were to be named. The results indicated that it took, on the average, fewer trials to teach part names (tacts) in the mand-tact condition than in the tact only condition. Although more research is needed to confirm this, it appears that mand contingencies involve stronger controlling variables and can facilitate the acquisition of a tact repertoire.

     

Generalized Reflexive Responding and Cross-Modal Tactile Transfer of Stimulus Function in Children with Autism

We sought to evaluate the efficacy of successive matching training for establishing generalized reflexive matching across 4 children with autism. In Experiment 1, differential reinforcement with delay fading was efficacious in establishing “yes” and “no” matching and nonmatching responses in 2 participants when 2 identical or nonidentical picture stimuli were presented. In addition, emergent visual–visual reflexive relational responses were observed using novel picture stimuli in a transfer test phase. In Experiment 2, differential reinforcement alone was efficacious in establishing matching and nonmatching responses in the other 2 participants when 2 identical or nonidentical objects were presented. Transfer to identical objects presented through touch (i.e., tactile discrimination) was additionally observed for both participants. Procedures in the study were adapted from the PEAK Relational Training System to aid in clinical replication, and the translational results have implications for language training with individuals with autism.