Manipulating motivating operations to facilitate the emergence of mands for a child with autism

Research on the functional independence of verbal operants (Skinner, 1957) has demonstrated inconsistent findings. One explanation may be that these studies have not manipulated the motivating operation (MO) to facilitate the emergence of mands (Hall & Sundberg, 1987; Lamarre & Holland, 1985). In the current study, 1 participant, diagnosed with autism, was taught to tact high-preference and low-preference leisure items, and emergence of mands was tested under varying MO conditions. Results showed the emergence of mands following periods of arranged deprivation, and greater maintenance for a highly preferred relative to a less preferred stimulus. However, mands only emerged when presession tact trials were conducted. These results suggest that in a state of deprivation, transfer of stimulus control from discriminative to motivational conditions may occur without direct training.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

Acquisition of Mands,Tacts, and Intraverbals Through Sign Exposure in an Individual With Autism

Many children with autism communicate through the use of alternative communication systems, such as sign language. Limited research has been conducted on the situations under which sign language will be acquired across verbal operants without direct teaching. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate exposure to sign language on the acquisition of signed mands, tacts, and intraverbals in a male child with autism. Results indicated fast acquisition of mands, tacts, and intraverbals without direct teaching. Results are discussed in the context of future research investigating exposure without direct teaching in individuals who communicate with alternative communication systems.     

Teaching mands by manipulating conditioned establishing operations

Skinner’s (1957) analysis of verbal behavior suggests the functional independence of the verbal operants. However, only a few empirical studies have directly examined the nature of these operants, and their independence. The present study evaluated whether teaching topographies as tacts would lead to their emission as mands. The results indicated that manding only occurred reliably after direct mand training, which consisted of the use of imitative and tact prompts, and fading those prompts, to transfer stimulus control from nonverbal stimuli to conditioned establishing operations. The results contribute to the existing data on the functional independence of mands and tacts, as well as demonstrate the value of manipulating conditioned establishing operations for mand training.

     

The Emergence of Autoclitic Frames in Atypically and Typically Developing Children as a Function of Multiple Exemplar Instruction

In two experiments, we tested the effect of multiple exemplar instruction (MEI) for training sets on the emergence of autoclitic frames for spatial relations for novel tacts and mands. In Experiment 1, we used a replicated pre- and post-intervention probe design with four students with significant learning disabilities to test for acquisition of four autoclitic frames with novel tacts and mands before and after MEI. The untaught topographies emerged for all participants. In Experiment 2, we used a multiple probe design to test the effects of the MEI procedures on the same responses in four typically developing, bilingual students. The novel usage emerged for all participants. In the latter experiment, the children demonstrated untaught usage of mand or tact frames regardless of whether they were taught to respond in either listener or speaker functions alone or across listener and speaker functions. The findings are discussed in terms of the role of MEI in the formation of abstractions.     

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.

     

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).     

Generalized Verbal Behavior Increases Following a Speaker Immersion Intervention

A goal of behavior-analytic interventions is to produce behavior that is maintained under naturalistic conditions. In this experiment, we studied the effects of a speaker immersion protocol (SIP) on the number of speaker responses (tacts and mands) emitted by 3 preschool students under naturalistic, not directly targeted, conditions. During the SIP, the researchers provided 100 daily opportunities for the participants to emit mands using the target mand form by contriving establishing operations (EOs) throughout the school day. The effects of the intervention were evaluated using a multiple-probe design by measuring target mands during EO probe sessions and the number of mands and tacts emitted during noninstructional-setting probe sessions. The researchers found that the SIP produced increases in both targeted and generalized verbal behavior.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s40616-020-00133-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

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.     

Discrete Trial Instruction vs. Mand Training for Teaching Children With Autism to Make Requests

The present study compared the effects of discrete trial instruction (DTI) and mand training on the acquisition of independent requests in 6 children with autism. Two multiple-probe designs across participants were conducted with 3 participants receiving mand training followed by DTI and the other 3 receiving DTI followed by mand training. Eye contact and challenging behaviors were also assessed across conditions. Results indicate that 5 of 6 participants made more independent requests and acquired requesting faster in the mand training condition, had slightly better eye contact in the DTI condition, and fewer challenging behaviors in the mand training condition. Overall, the results indicate that mand training is a more efficient method for teaching children with autism to make requests.     

The acquisition of tacts,mands, and intraverbals by individuals with traumatic brain injury

Two individuals who sustained traumatic brain injuries from motorcycle accidents were taught several verbal responses by using tact, mand, and intraverbal training procedures. The rate of acquisition for each operant and the transfer to untrained verbal operants involving the same response topography were measured. The results showed that tacts and intraverbals were acquired quickest, and training on the tact produced the greatest amount of transfer to the untrained verbal operants. Intraverbal training also resulted in transfer for both subjects, but to varying degrees. Direct mand training proved to be the least efficient way to generate a mand repertoire, and when acquired showed least amount of transfer to the untrained operants. These results seem to be in contrast with the findings of similar research with developmentally disabled individuals, and may have implications for methods of language instruction for the brain injured population.

     

Transferring Control of the Mand to the Motivating Operation in Children with Autism

Few studies have made use of B. F. Skinner''s (1957) behavioral analysis of language and precise taxonomy of verbal behavior when describing the controlling variables for the mand relation. Consequently, the motivating operation (MO) has not typically been identified as an independent variable and the nature of a spontaneous mand has been imprecisely described. The purpose of this study was to develop procedures to bring the mand response under the control of the relevant MO and therefore free it from the multiple controls that are more easily identified by practitioner''s who rely on Skinner''s analysis and taxonomy. Using a rolling time delay and prompt fade procedure both participants'' mand repertoires were successfully transferred to the relevant MO and a listener and described within the context of a behavioral analysis of language.     

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.     

An Evaluation of Conditional Manding Using a Four-Component Multiple Schedule

Most verbal behavior curricula for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) focus on teaching multiple mands during the early stages of training (e.g., picture exchange communication system; Bondy & Frost, 1994). However, few, if any, of those curricula train children with ASD to differentially mand only for reinforcers that are reasonable for a caregiver to deliver in a given context (e.g., mands to cuddle at bedtime) and to refrain from manding for reinforcers that would be inappropriate to deliver in that context (e.g., mands to play outside at bedtime). In this study, we first taught a boy with ASD two initial mands. Immediately thereafter we brought those mands under the conditional discriminative control of a four-component multiple schedule with (a) S¹ correlated with one reinforcer available (i.e., edibles), (b) S² correlated with both reinforcers available (i.e., edibles or drink), (c) S³ correlated with another reinforcer available (i.e., drink), and (d) S^Δ correlated with no reinforcer available. Following treatment, the child displayed conditionally discriminated manding in accordance with each of the four components of the schedule. We discuss these findings relative to the potential benefits of bringing mands under both evocative and discriminative control.

     

Investigating the Acquisition,Generalization, and Emergence of Untrained Verbal Operants for Mands Acquired Using the Picture Exchange Communication System in Adults With Severe Developmental Disabilities

This study compared the total amount of training time and total number of trial blocks for individuals with severe developmental disabilities to acquire mands under control of unconditioned establishing operations and mands under control of transitive conditioned establishing operations for manual sign and for the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS). Also examined was the generalization of mands across settings and communicative partners, as well as the emergence of untrained tacts and intraverbals for mands acquired using PECS. Mands for preferred items and for items needed to complete a chained task were acquired more rapidly and in fewer training blocks for PECS than for manual sign. Moreover, mands established using PECS generalized across settings and communicative partners. Finally, untrained tacts and intraverbals using PECS were shown to emerge for some of the participants following PECS training. These results suggest that PECS may be a viable alternative communication system for adults with severe developmental disabilities who have little or no history of systematic instruction and limited imitative repertoires.     

The effects of specific versus nonspecific reinforcement on verbal behavior

The current study is a systematic replication and extension of previous research on the differences between specific (mand) and nonspecific (tact) reinforcement. The focus was on the role that these different consequences played in the acquisition of verbal behavior. Using both a within-subject and a between-subjects design, the current researchers trained eight essentially nonverbal individuals to tact a variety of foods under two different reinforcement conditions. The results showed no significant differences between the four matched-pairs in rates of acquisition, or in the resistance to extinction. However, subjects in the specific reinforcement condition emitted more untrained mand-compliance responses, while subjects in the nonspecific group demonstrated increased generalization to multiply controlled mand conditions. The results supported previous findings which indicated that the two types of consequences were equally effective in the acquisition of tacting, but each had unique features and implications for language training with nonverbal populations.

     

Effects of Conditioning Voices as Reinforcers for Listener Responses on Rate of Learning,Awareness, and Preferences for Listening to Stories in Preschoolers With Autism

We used a delayed non-concurrent pre- and post-intervention probe design to test the effects of a voice conditioning protocol (VCP) with 3 preschoolers with autism on (a) rate of acquisition of listener curricular objectives, (b) observing voices and the presence of adults across 3 settings, (c) selecting to listen to adults tell stories in free play setting, and (d) the occurrence of stereotypy in the story setting. The VCP conditioned voices as reinforcers for listening to recordings of voices via stimulus-stimulus pairing, which resulted in the children listening to audio recordings of voices in 90% of intervals in 5-min concurrent-operant preference tests. After voices became conditioned reinforcers, all 3 children's learning accelerated; 2 children's observing responses increased in the 3 settings; and 2 children selected to listen to stories and also showed decreased stereotypy in the story setting. The data suggest that conditioned reinforcement for observing responses may be a verbal behavior developmental cusp that acts to accelerate learning that involves listening, and that the cusp may be induced using the VCP.