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| Verbal Behavior Developmental Theory and Implications for Social Language |
| Tuesday, May 26, 2015 |
| 9:00 AM–10:50 AM |
| 216AB (CC) |
| Area: VRB/EDC; Domain: Applied Research |
| Chair: Joanne Marie Hill (Columbia Univeristy Graduate Program and Teacher's) |
| Discussant: Joan Broto (Semiahmoo Behaviour Analysts, Inc.) |
| CE Instructor: Joan Broto, Ph.D. |
| Abstract: We present four studies on the effects of verbal behavior developmental protocols on the acquisition of social language. In the first paper the researchers examined the effects of the acquisition of the Naming capability on the joining of listener to untaught speaker responses in preschoolers with developmental delays. In the second paper the researchers tested the effects of contingent auditory feedback on the elimination of stereotypy and emission of socially appropriate verbal exchanges in elementary students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. In the third paper the researchers investigated the effects of Social Listener Reinforcement and video modeling protocols on the emergence social verbal operants emitted by preschoolers with autism and speech and language delays. In the fourth paper the researchers studied the effects of Social Listener Reinforcement Protocol in elementary students. |
| Keyword(s): Social Language, Verbal Behavior, Verbal Operants, Video Modeling |
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| The Functional Relation Between the Onset of Naming and the Joining of Listener to Untaught Speaker Responses |
| LISA TULLO (Teacher's College, Columbia University), R. Douglas Greer (Columbia University Teachers College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences) |
| Abstract: The experimenter selected 13 developmentally delayed preschool students without Naming to conduct probes for speaker and listener vocabularies. This affirmed the independence of speaker and listener vocabularies as evidenced by a significantly larger listener vocabulary than speaker vocabulary. A time-lagged multiple probe design across participants was implemented to test the emergence of responses for stimuli the participants could only respond to as a listener prior to the acquisition of Naming. Within this design was a nested delayed multiple probe design to test the effect of multiple exemplar instruction on the induction of Naming. None of the participants had the Naming capability at the onset of the study. Six participants from the screening procedure were selected to receive multiple exemplar instruction to induce Naming. Following the acquisition of Naming the experimenter re-tested listener and speaker responses finding that the participants could respond as a speaker to the stimuli they previously could only respond to as a listener. Five of six participants acquired approximately 70% or greater untaught responses following the acquisition of Naming. The sixth participant acquired approximately 30% of untaught speaker responses following the acquisition of Naming. |
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| Effects of the Elimination of Stereotypy on the Emission of Socially Appropriate Verbal Interactions for Students with Autism Who Have Audience Control |
| HELENA SONG-A HAN (Columbia University), R. Douglas Greer (Columbia University Teachers College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences) |
| Abstract: I tested the effects of contingent auditory feedback on the elimination of stereotypy in a delayed non-concurrent multiple probe design with multiple treatment reversals, counterbalanced across 2 male elementary school students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in Experiment I. My findings supported evidence for the effectiveness of contingent addition or removal of auditory stimuli (Hugh-Pennie, 2006) in reducing the frequency levels of stereotypy and increasing self-awareness of one’s own stereotypic behaviors. In addition, generalization effects were demonstrated as a result of the shift of the discriminative stimulus (SD) from the presentation of the auditory feedback device to the presence of the experimenter. Thus, the stimulus control of a verbal audience in one setting (with a direct intervention) transferred to another setting (i.e., the instructional periods) without a direct auditory feedback intervention. However, during the 3-month follow-up probes, both participants’ frequency levels of stereotypy returned to the initial levels. As an extended test of auditory feedback, Experiment II used a within-subjects delayed non-concurrent multiple probe design with multiple treatments across 4 participants, who had audience control, to test the effects of contingent auditory feedback on the elimination of stereotypy and the emission of socially appropriate verbal exchanges (i.e., conversational units) during academic, lunch, and recess periods in the mainstream general education settings in the presence of typically developing peers. All participants were diagnosed with ASD and attended a combined 3rd to 5th grade self-contained special education classroom in a public elementary school. The results of Experiment II showed a functional relation between the implementation of auditory feedback procedure in mainstream general education settings and the increased emission and initiation of socially appropriate verbal exchanges by both the typically developing peers and the participants as the participants’ emission of stereotypy decreased. In addition, generalization effects were demonstrated in the self-contained special education settings in the absence of typically developing peers without a direct intervention (i.e., all participants’ emission of stereotypy decreased while their initiation of conversational units with peers increased). |
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| The Effects of Social Listener Reinforcement and Video Modeling Protocols on the Emergence of Social Verbal Operants in Preschoolers Diagnosed with Autism and Language Delays |
| KATHERINE BAKER (Teachers College, Columbia University), R. Douglas Greer (Columbia University Teachers College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences) |
| Abstract: We investigated the effects of the Social Listener Reinforcement protocol and a video modeling protocol on the number of social verbal operants emitted by preschoolers with Autism and speech and language delays. A combined experimental-control group design with two “nested” non-concurrent multiple probes across participants was used to provide two within-group single case designs simultaneously with the experimental-control group design. Results showed that participants in both conditions increased the number of social verbal operants they emitted with peers in non-instructional settings. Participants in the Social Listener Reinforcement condition had greater gains in the total number of social verbal operants they emitted and the number of conversational exchanges and sequelics they initiated in non-instructional settings. Results are discussed in terms of differences in potential conditioned reinforcers that result from the two procedures. |
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Establishment of Social Listener Reinforcement in Elementary Age Students |
| JESSICA HORTON (Teachers College, Columbia University), R. Douglas Greer (Columbia University Teachers College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences), Jo Ann Pereira (Teachers College, Columbia University), Jennifer Weber (Teachers College, Columbia University), Jennifer Lee (Teachers College, Columbia University), Kelly Mercorella (Teachers College, Columbia University) |
| Abstract: In multiple experiments, we studied the effects of social listener reinforcement in two elementary inclusive settings for students with and without disabilities. Probes were conducted in three settings: 1) social discussions, 2) academic discussions, 3) lunch time across 5 days for each peer and participant. Additionally, we measured social performance behaviors that each participant emitted throughout the school day across 10 consecutive days. The participants of the experiments included students with autism and general education students from different backgrounds, using a delayed multiple probe design. The sequence of the SLR procedure included: 1) I Spy, 2) 20 Questions, 3) Guess Who, 4) Advanced 20 Questions, 5) Peer Tutoring, 7) Group Instruction, & 8) Empathy. Results demonstrated that an advanced social-listener reinforcement procedure with a peer-yoked contingency increased the number of vocal verbal operants and social-performance behaviors emitted by participants. |
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