Use of a Modified Chaining Procedure with Textual Prompts to Establish Intraverbal Storytelling

Echoic, tact, and textual transfer procedures have been proven successful in establishing simple intraverbals (Braam and Poling Applied Research in Mental Retardation, 4, 279–302, 1983; Luciano Applied Research in Mental Retardation, 102, 346–357, 1986; Watkins et al. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 7, 69–81, 1989). However, these strategies may be ineffective for some children due to the complexity of the targeted intraverbals. The current study investigated the use of a novel procedure which included a modified chaining procedure and textual prompts to establish intraverbal behavior in the form of telling short stories. Visual prompts and rule statements were used with some of the participants in order to produce the desired behavior change. Results indicated that the procedure was effective for teaching retelling of short stories in three children with autism.     

Establishing Concurrent Mands for Items and Mands for Information about Location in Children with Autism

This study replicated and extended the methodology used in Howlett et al. (Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 44, 943–947 2011) to bring the mands “Where’s (item)?” and “I want (item)” under appropriate antecedent control in two boys diagnosed with autism. Trials were alternated in which items were present, missing, and within view (but inaccessible) and missing and out of view. To program for generalization, fifteen items, multiple trainers, and multiple settings were used during teaching. For both participants, manding generalized to novel items, instructors, settings, and situations and maintained after 2 weeks following teaching. Results of the social validity assessment indicated that school staff found the procedures highly acceptable.     

Evaluating the Emergence of Reverse Intraverbals in Children with Autism

Verbal behavior plays a fundamental role in the development of complex social and communication skills. Many children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder exhibit profound deficiencies in intraverbal repertoires and the development of social relationships. Recent studies that investigated the effects of intraverbal training on the emergence of reverse intraverbals produced mixed results (e.g., Perez-Gonzalez et al., Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis 40:697–701, 2007)). In the current study, a multiple-probe design across four participants with autism was used to evaluate the effects of intraverbal training on the emergence of reverse intraverbals. Intraverbal training consisted of multiple exemplars taught concurrently, bidirectional stimulus-response teaching formats, general case analysis, reinforcement, and a constant prompt delay (CPD) procedure. Participants were trained on intraverbal targets and probes were conducted to assess emergence of untaught reverse intraverbals. Three participants demonstrated the emergence of reverse intraverbals as a result of the intraverbal training procedures. Social validity and maintenance of target responses and emergent reverse intraverbals were assessed.     

The Effects of Contingent Caregiver Imitation of Infant Vocalizations: a Comparison of Multiple Caregivers

The present study replicated and extended the Pelaez et al. (Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis 44:33–40, 2011) study, which examined the reinforcing effects of mothers’ contingent imitation of their infants’ vocalizations. Three infants aged 7–12 months who could vocalize sounds but not words participated with two caregivers for each infant (i.e., triads). During the intervention phase, the caregivers were asked to immediately imitate all vocalizations emitted by the child for a 3-min period. During the yoked control phase, the caregivers listened to an audio recording from the preceding condition and provided vocalizations non-contingently on the infants’ responses. The procedures yielded different results across participants; one infant emitted a higher frequency of vocalizations during the contingent imitation phases over the control phases, and the other two infants showed higher rates of responding during the control phases. However, all infants emitted more imitative return vocalizations during contingent reinforcement conditions compared with the yoked control condition.     

An Evaluation of Two Tact-Training Procedures on Acquired Tacts and Tacting During Play

A common practice in tact training is to include a supplemental verbal stimulus (e.g., “What is it?”) in addition to the presentation of a nonverbal discriminative stimulus. Previous literature has suggested that this supplemental verbal stimulus can impede acquisition and generalization relative to the presentation of the object alone, as it may establish faulty stimulus control or decrease spontaneous tacting. Research has yet to compare these 2 training methods on the generalization of learned tacts to more naturalistic, play-based environments. The present study evaluated the use of “What is it?” compared to the presentation of only the nonverbal discriminative stimulus on tact acquisition among 3 children with autism spectrum disorder and the extent to which these training procedures led to tacting in a play-based setting following discrete-trial training. Overall, participants learned to tact stimuli under both conditions, and all participants demonstrated generalization of tacts in a play-based setting. Recommendations for the development and evaluation of naturalistic posttraining assessment are discussed.     

Implementing the Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (VB-MAPP): Teaching Assessment Techniques

The Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (VB-MAPP) is an assessment tool used with individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and other language delays (Sundberg 2008). The milestones assessment section of the VB-MAPP is used to determine an individual’s current skill level. The results of the milestones assessment can be used to identify instructional goals and objectives. The current study examined the effects of behavioral skills training (BST) on the administration of the milestones assessment by two educational professionals. The BST intervention resulted in immediate increases in performance for both participants.     

Stimulus-Stimulus Pairing of Vocalizations: A Systematic Replication

The current study replicated an enhanced stimulus-stimulus pairing (SSP) procedure used by Esch et al. (Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis 42: 42–225, 2009) for increasing vocalizations in children with autism. The enhanced SSP procedure consisted of pairing target vocalizations with high-preference items, interspersed target and nontarget trials, an observing response, and the presentation of the vocalizations in “motherese” speech. Results showed substantial increases in target vocalizations above baseline levels and above nontarget vocalizations for two of three participants.     

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.     

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.     

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).     

Emergent Intraverbal Forms may Occur as a Result of Listener Training for Children with Autism

The purpose of the present study was to assess whether intraverbal behavior, in the form of answers to questions, emerges as a result of listener training for five children diagnosed with autism. Listener responses were targeted and taught using prompting and differential reinforcement. Following successful acquisition of listener responses, the intraverbal form of the response was probed. Data were evaluated via a nonconcurrent multiple-baseline design that included a control series. Results showed listener-to-intraverbal transfer for four of the five participants. One participant required additional teaching that involved tacting the items selected during listener training.

     

The Effects of Auditory Tact and Auditory Imagining Instructions on the Emergence of Novel Intraverbals

The current research investigated whether intraverbals would emerge following auditory tact instruction. Participants were first taught to tact auditory stimuli by providing the name of the item or animal that produces the sound (e.g., saying “eagle” when presented with the recording of an eagle cawing). Following test probes for simple intraverbals as well as intraverbal categorization participants were taught to tact what each auditory stimulus is (e.g., saying “caw” when presented with the recording of an eagle cawing). Following both tact instructional phases, the effects of an auditory imagining instruction procedure on target intraverbals were examined. Results indicate that following both tact instructional phases, intraverbals increased for three of four participants. Auditory imagining instruction was sufficient for two of four participants to reach mastery criterion, and two of four participants needed some direct instruction. Low covariation between simple intraverbal and categorization was also observed. Functional interdependence between tacts and intraverbals and the possible role of a conditioned hearing response are discussed.     

Increasing Vocal Variability in Children with Autism Using a Lag Schedule of Reinforcement

Variability has been demonstrated to be an operant dimension of behavior (Neuringer, 2002; Page & Neuringer, 1985). Recently, lag schedules have been used to demonstrate operant variability of verbal behavior in persons with a diagnosis of autism (e.g., Lee, McComas, & Jawor, 2002). The current study evaluated the effects of a Lag 1 schedule on the vocal variability of 2 nonverbal children with a diagnosis of autism. Results showed systematic increases in variability during the Lag 1 schedule. Implications of lag schedules for speech and language training are discussed.     

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.

     

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.     

Effects of a Differential Observing Response on Intraverbal Performance of Preschool Children: A Preliminary Investigation

Axe (2008) speculated that some instances of intraverbal responding might be associated with limited or delayed acquisition because they require discrimination of multiple components of verbal stimuli. Past studies suggest that acquisition of responses under control of complex, multicomponent antecedent stimuli (e.g., conditional or compound stimulus control) can be facilitated with the introduction of a differential observing response (DOR; Dube & McIlvane, 1999; Gutowski, Geren, Stromer, & Mackay, 1995). The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effects of a DOR (i.e., repeating the question) on intraverbal responding with six neurotypical preschool children. Findings included that (a) accuracy of intraverbal performance increased when the experimenter prompted a DOR; (b) 1 of 6 participants overtly emitted the DOR for a second relation in the absence of prompts, which was correlated with increased accuracy; and (c) following mastery, response accuracy was variable for 3 participants. Based on these findings, prompted DORs may offer an effective, if temporary, aid to intraverbal instruction for neurotypical preschool children.     

Publication Trends in The Analysis of Verbal Behavior: 1999–2008

The Analysis of Verbal Behavior (TAVB) publishes experimental and theoretical papers relevant to a behavioral analysis of language. Normand, Fossa, and Poling (2000) reviewed the published studies in TAVB across several dimensions and found that despite the growth of the journal, most articles published in TAVB from 1982 to 1998 were nonexperimental. The current study extends this review by analyzing articles published in TAVB from 1999 through 2008. Results showed that 48% of the articles published between 1999 and 2008 were experimental (65% in the last 4 years), 93% of them used within-subject experimental designs, and most of them (54%) included children with developmental disabilities. This suggests an increased interest in the experimental analysis of verbal behavior with a focus on teaching language to individuals with disabilities.     

Foster and adoptive parent training: A process and outcome investigation of the preservice PRIDE program

This study investigated the widely-used but under-researched program for training resource parents (i.e., foster, adoptive, or kinship parents) known as preservice PRIDE (Parent Resources for Information, Development and Education). The sample consisted of 174 participants in Ontario, Canada. Examination of the process of training showed that the participants were highly satisfied with the training and rated it as being of high quality. The participants experienced a large pretest-posttest mean gain (d = 1.17, p < 0.001) on the total score of the primary outcome measure, knowledge of the PRIDE competencies taught by the program. Training quality was a positive and statistically significantly predictor of both gains in knowledge of the PRIDE competencies and satisfaction with training. The results were discussed in terms of their implications for research and practice.     

The effects of listener training on the emergence of tact and mand signs by individuals with intellectual disabilities

The purpose of the current study was to assess whether individuals with intellectual disabilities would emit untrained speaker responses (i.e., signed tacts and mands) after being taught listener behaviors. Listener relations were trained via an automated matching-to-sample (MTS) procedure. Following mastery, the emergence of signed tacts, generalized tacts, and mands was tested. All participants met criterion in listener relations training and showed the emergence of almost all relations. Results suggest that teaching listener relations first, through MTS tasks, is a viable way to produce emergence of speaker relations.