Association for Behavior Analysis International

We examined the effects on child verbalizations of procedures recommended for interventions using Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) protocols. The effects of the procedures of Child Directed Interactions (CDI) were examined within a multiple baseline across participants design. Two seven-year old participants with developmental disabilities and language delay experienced a baseline condition with two experimental conditions during a free play environment. A range of child toys were rotated systematically throughout the study. The total number of therapist-child interactions remained consistent across all experimental conditions. The experimenter received bug in the ear feedback about her use of the therapy components in order to maintain similar interaction frequencies across the study. Only the topography of the interactions varied across conditions. During the first experimental condition the therapist used descriptive-labeled praise, behavior descriptions, and motor imitation of appropriate play. During the second experimental condition the therapist systematically added the use of verbal reflections of child vocalizations. Within the multiple baseline design, total verbalizations, total different verbalizations, and mean length of utterance increased following the introduction of the first intervention condition. The additive effect of reflections of verbal content was examined subsequently.