Association for Behavior Analysis International

In three separate studies, the effects of procedures to establish social developmental cusps and to increase social repertoires were investigated with preschool students with and without disabiltieis. Two of the experiments tested the effects of a series of peer focused tasks on the acquisition of social listener reinforcement and on peer interactions. The outcomes included increases in verbal operants, including conversational exchanges and approvals to peers, as well the establishment of collaborative behavior. In the third study, the effects of yoked contingency intervention were tested on the acquisition of observational learning and incidental bidirectional naming. Findings showed increases in learning new operants as a function of observation, increases in peer verbal exchanges, and increases in incidental language acquisition across all three preschool participants. The data compiled from these studies suggest that the establishment of a certain set of social contingencies, direct or observed, can set the occasion for language development and for individuals to be part of a verbal community.

Basic understanding of the following: principles of behavior, verbal behavior, emergent behaviors, Incidental bidirectional naming, and observational learning.

While many studies have examined the components of listener and speaker interactions and their role in incidental naming, fewer have explored how children develop an interest in engaging in conversations and mutual learning with peers. In this study, we investigated the impact of a social listener reinforcement treatment package on children’s conversational units with peers, observational learning, empathetic responses, and incidental bidirectional naming. The intervention consisted of a structured treatment package that required participants to engage in speaker-listener exchanges and collaborate through a yoked contingency. This included activities such as “I Spy,” BINGO, collaborative construction tasks, peer tutoring sessions, and a direct empathy intervention. Using a multiple probe design across three preschool participants with disabilities, we observed a significant increase in conversational units and peer approvals post-intervention, indicating a shift in preference for peer engagement. These positive outcomes were evident in both intervention settings and across classroom activities, demonstrating the potential for promoting appropriate peer interactions and collaborative learning in educational environments.

Collaboration is a required skill for individuals to engage in, from childhood and throughout adulthood. In education, collaboration occurs when two or more children work together to achieve a shared goal. Research has demonstrated importance of collaboration in group assignments, college projects, and across various jobs in the workforce. However, there is a need to investigate at what age collaboration can be established and any significance of the skill. Darcy (2017) investigated effects of reinforcement for collaboration in elementary aged student’s rate of learning and verbal behavior and proposed it to be a verbal behavior developmental cusp. The current study aims to establish reinforcement for collaboration in preschoolers with disabilities, and measure changes in speed of learning, collaborative behaviors, vocal verbal operants, and joint attention with peers. The results demonstrated that all participants increased their instances of collaborative behaviors and vocal verbal operants when working on a puzzle with a peer. All participants also demonstrated slight increases in joint attention from peers. Lastly, two participants learned faster in the collaborative learning condition following intervention.

We evaluated the effects of an interdependent (peer-yoked) contingency on children’s demonstration of the cusps of Observational Learning (OL) and Incidental Bidirectional Naming (Inc-BiN), as well as the emission of conversational exchanges with peers. The intervention consisted of the use of a peer-yoked contingency during a performance (mastered) task. Participants were 3 preschool children with and without language delays who did not demonstrate incidental learning through observation or peers and who were not observed to engage in conversational exchanges with their peers. Using a multiple probe design, we measured children’s responses to OL probes, Inc-BiN probes, and instances of conversational exchanges with peers prior to and following intervention. Results demonstrated increases in correct responses following opportunities to observe peers engaged in learning (OL), increases in incidental acquisition of operants through peer observation (Inc-BiN), and increases in speaker-listener exchanges with peers following the intervention. These outcomes were observed both in the intervention setting and across classroom activities for all 3 participants including during 3-week maintenance probes. The outcomes are discussed in terms of promoting appropriate peer interactions and learning from peers during school instruction.