Association for Behavior Analysis International

Mands, under the control of motivating operations, are commonly taught using function-based interventions to replace maladaptive behaviors exhibited by children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD; Carr & Durand, 1985, Michael, 1988). This study sought to evaluate the effects of manipulating motivating operations during mand training in order to decrease grabbing behavior in 3 male participants diagnosed with ASD and between the ages of 7 and 11. The first phase of this study consisted of an abolishing operations (AO) phase, where participants were given free access to preferred items. The second phase of the study consisted of an establishing operations (EO) phase, where preferred items were placed in a clear box that was visible but out of reach. Through visual inspection, the preliminary data of this study demonstrated that the AO phase evoked high levels of problem behavior and low levels of manding while the EO phase evoked low to zero levels of problem behavior and high levels of independent mands. The implications of this study demonstrate the importance of motivating operations during mand training and may be of use to practitioners during mand training.

Language acquisition in South American countries is based on the traditional theorists such as Chomsky, Piaget, or Brunner in which its development is taken as being innate, a biological process, and that it is controlled by internal cognitive mechanisms. Little is known on evidence based treatment and verbal behavior to improve language acquisition. For this reason we trained and evaluated the effects of staff training on increasing mand repertoires on children with Autism in Ecuador based on the principles of verbal behavior and applied behavior analysis. The evaluations and trainings included instructions, feedback, modeling, rehearsal and video modeling to conduct and training. The training must result in an increase in mand repertoire on 3 non-verbal children with autism ages two to four. As a result staff training on manding will help generalized staff skills to other patients.

Mands are the first type of language acquired by children (Bijou & Baer, 1965). However, children with developmental disabilities and language delays may not acquire mands through exposure to language in the natural environment and may need early intervention to acquire this skill. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate a procedure for teaching mands to one 5-year-old child with autism. The participant was non-vocal and mand training was conducted using a speech generating device (SGD; a selection-based response). Mand training included the following components: (a) strategically altering the environment to create communication opportunities, (b) providing least-to-most prompting for the three-step selection-based communicative exchange (searching for and selecting the correct icon on the SGD, pressing the sentence strip, and making eye contact with the communication partner), and (c) differential reinforcement. During baseline and intervention sessions, data were recorded on the percent of correct and independent mands for preferred items, and eye contact. Mand training was conducted in the home setting, and generalisation was assessed in the school setting. Results showed that the participant rapidly acquired mands but required additional prompting to make eye contact. These findings add to the existing body of research (e.g., Adkins & Axelrod, 2001) showing that children with developmental disabilities and language delays can learn to mand using a selection-based response, and that selection-based responses can be taught using an SGD.

A nineteen year old male diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) engages in self-stimulatory behavior on his augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device. This behavior resulted in increased response time when communicating with staff and peers and, interfered with his ability to communicate effectively. The purpose of the study was to determine what effect utilizing a self-monitoring checklist plus reinforcement would have on decreasing response time when using an AAC device. A self-monitoring checklist and reinforcement was used to decrease the duration of the student’s response time when responding to intraverbal questions during different areas of instruction. A multiple baseline design across three different academic areas was implemented throughout the school day. During intervention when the student met criteria in one phase, the schedule of reinforcement was thinned. Results demonstrated that the student’s average response time decreased in each condition due to implementation of the self-monitoring checklist combined with reinforcement. Future studies will measure if this skill will generalize outside in the community, in natural conversation, and in other academic areas.

Many children diagnosed with a disability have a language deficit and require interventions to improve their language skills (Sundberg and Partington, 1998). Communication skills are imperative to be effective because one must understand what is said while also express themselves with words or gestures (Morreale, Valenzano, & Bauer, 2017). Tacting or labeling is a first language skill learned and often used in many programs for individuals with developmental disabilities (Marchese, Carr, Leblanc, Rosati, & Conroy, 2012). The purpose was to evaluate the effects of tact training on the acquisition of nonvocal tacting by two two-year-old male students with a disability and vocal tacting by one two-year-old male student with developmental delays in an early intervention classroom. Each participant was assessed using event recording within a multiple baseline design across tacting groups. During both procedures, the target tact flashcards were paired or mixed with mastered ones. Verbal Behavior tact training consisted of fading prompts and model, lead, test to either touch the specified flashcard (nonvocal) or say the name of the shown flashcard (vocal). Every participant achieved mastery across all three groups. Using the appropriate communication mode, appropriate words, and tailored Verbal Behavior intervention were all components to this study’s success.

Perspective taking involves commenting on a situation from someone else’s point of view. Correct use of pronouns, especially “you” and “I”, is essential to perspective taking. Fluency-based instruction was implemented to teach two children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), ages 5 and 6, to use pronouns fluently and generatively within their environment. Both participants demonstrated inappropriate pronoun usage throughout their day prior to instruction. For the first participant, discrete trial training and differential reinforcement in the natural environment failed to result in correct pronoun usage in the natural environment. Fluency-based instruction is typically used to build the frequency of a particular behavior, resulting in retention, endurance, stability, and application. Following fluency-based instruction, both participants demonstrated improvement in correct pronoun usage during practice sessions. In addition, the frequency of correct pronouns emitted by both participants outside of the practice sessions increased. For one participant, erroneous pronoun usage was reduced to zero instances per day. Generalized pronoun usage and perspective taking emerged for both participants across a variety of environmental conditions. These data lend support to the view that generalization and maintenance of pronoun usage and perspective taking can be enhanced through the use fluency-based instruction, and that commonly reported deficits related to ASD can be remediated via effective, science-based, instructional techniques. Data presented on Standard Celeration Charts, video of outcomes, and future directions will be discussed.

Self-control is important because it minimizes a person’s contact with the consequences of impulsive choices. This study examined the extent to which impulsive choices were able to be controlled by rules which varied in completeness and correspondence with prevailing contingencies. 15 undergraduate students participated in the study. In this experiment, participants engaged in a choice task that appeared on a computer screen for approximately 30 minutes in duration. During these periods, a rule specifying the way to increase the amount of money earned by performance appeared on the screen. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions differing on the degree of rule completeness: high completeness, medium completeness, low completeness, and no rule. We examined the relative effectiveness of different levels of rule completeness on self-control responses and the extent to which this control sustained self-control in the face of competing contingencies of reinforcement. Preliminary results demonstrated differential influence of rule completeness on self-controlled choice.