Association for Behavior Analysis International

Within the verbal behavior literature from and since Skinner’s groundbreaking work, it is clear that listener behavior and speaker behavior first developed as independent repertoires. The joining of listener and speaker, in which the individual can act as speaker as own listener, has also been extensively studied. This symposium includes experiments that studied the outcomes related to the development of and acquisition of the speaker repertoire and the joining of listener and speaker behavior. One experiment tested the effects of an intensive tact procedure on the number of verbal operants emitted in a non-instructional setting. The next experiment expanded on the intensive tact procedure to incorporate measures of intelligibility in addition to frequency of vocal verbal operants. The next study investigated the outcome when listener and speaker behavior are joined in self talk. In the fourth study, the pedagogy of how children who are listeners and speakers most efficiently and effectively learn was analyzed, in which trials to criterion for identification programs under several conditions (learn units, corrections only, reinforcement only) were calculated. Understanding what children can learn and how they can learn when they come under the stimulus control for a certain set of contingencies is essential to furthering the field of behavioral analysis and education.

Target audience members include graduate students pursuing a master's degree and board certification and/or a PhD in behavior analysis.

Children with Developmental Disorders may not use verbal language on their own initiative, but only in the presence of verbal antecedents or prompts. However, since in the natural environment most of the communicative initiations occur in presence of non-verbal antecedents, it is crucial to teach and promote the use of verbal behavior under these contingencies. Intensive Tact Instruction (ITI) is a procedure demonstrated to be effective in increasing the number of verbal operants emitted in non-instructional context. The aim of these two studies was evaluating the effectiveness of ITI with stationary and animated images on the emission of mands, tacts, sequelic initiations and reactions in three non-instructional settings. ITI involves the presentation of 100 additional tacts. Compared to previous studies, the stimuli used for tact emissions included also animated images, instead of only static ones. In Experiment 1, the participants were 3 children between 3 and 5 years old with Specific Language Impairment, while Experiment 2 included 3 children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and comorbidities. A multiple probe design across participants was used for both studies. The results replicated the findings of previous research; considerations regarding the use of animated images, treatment intensity and changes in probes length were discussed.

Self-talk during fantasy play allows children to function as listener and speaker within the same skin and is a crucial step in verbal development. This study evaluates, with two experiments, the effects of the Self Talk Immersion Protocol (STIP) on the emergence of self-talk sequelics and conversational units (STCU) and social verbal behavior during fantasy play. A multiple probe design staggered across participants was used in both experiments. The participants of Experiment I were four 5- to 8-years old children with Developmental Disorders, in Experiment II the study was replicated with two 6-years old twins with Developmental Disorders. Results of the study further support the use of the STIP as an intervention to induce self-talk behavior for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and other Developmental Disorders. In Experiment II, emergence of self-talk led to increased social verbal operants and conversational units with peers during fantasy play for both participants. Additional research is needed to evaluate the relation between the emergence of STCU as a verbal behavior cusp and the emergence of social verbal behavior between children.