Teaching caregivers to implement mand training using speech generating devices

Individuals with developmental disabilities often do not develop vocal repertoires, thus requiring the use of augmentative devices. Teaching caregivers to conduct communication training with their children may be one way to foster communication with their device in the natural environment. This study replicates Rosales, Stone and Rehfeldt (2009), but using an augmentative device. Behavioral skills training was used to teach caregivers to implement mand training procedures. Caregivers quickly learned to implement mand training with their children and independent mands increased from pretraining to posttraining observations for 2 out of 3 children.     

Inducing Vocal Verbal Behavior in Children with Severe Language Delays Through Rapid Motor Imitation Responding

We conducted two experiments demonstrating the use of a rapid motor imitation sequence to evoke echoic and independent mands in three preschoolers with no vocal verbal behavior, who were unresponsive to alternative procedures. We further tested the procedure in the induction of echoics and independent tacts. The dependent variables for both experiments were echoics, mands, and tacts. In Experiment 1, we used a within subject multiple baseline design, across two mand and two tact forms, which were introduced in a counterbalanced order. In Experiment 2 we used a multiple baseline across subjects design with a tandem tact and mand training schedule, during which opportunities for echoic and independent mand training were contingent upon correct echoic and independent tact responses. Results showed that the rapid motor imitation antecedent was successful in inducing echoic and independent mands and tacts. Tacts required fewer opportunities than mands for mastery during the first experiment.     

Evaluation of a vocal mand assessment and vocal mand training procedures

A common deficiency in the verbal repertoires of individuals with autism and related disorders is the absence of socially appropriate vocal mands. The vocal mand repertoires of these individuals may be lacking in several respects: (a) The individual might engage in no mands whatsoever, (b) the mand might be topographically dissimilar to an appropriate response, (c) the mand might be only partially topographically similar to an appropriate response, and (d) the mand might occur only after prompting. Depending on specific deficiencies in an individual's repertoire, different procedures for establishing appropriate mands may be needed. The purpose of Study 1 was to evaluate an assessment prior to teaching vocal mands for 3 individuals with developmental disabilities. The assessment showed that 1 individual displayed partial utterances of mands, 1 displayed vocal mands after mands had been reinforced, and 1 displayed vocal mands when prompted. Thus, in Study 2, a different teaching strategy was tested for each individual. Results showed that the assessment information could be linked directly to mand training for all 3 participants.     

The effects of behavioral skills training on mand training by staff and unprompted vocal mands by children

We evaluated the effects of a training package, including instructions, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback, for training staff members to conduct mand training with children. Experimenters collected data on staff performance on each step of a task analysis of mand training and on unprompted child vocal mands. Training resulted in increases in staff performance in mand training and in unprompted mands by children. We observed replication of these effects across settings for all staff and for 3 of the children.     

Further evaluation of emerging speech in children with developmental disabilities: training verbal behavior

The conceptual basis for many effective language-training programs are based on Skinner's (1957) analysis of verbal behavior. Skinner described several elementary verbal operants including mands, tacts, intraverbals, and echoics. According to Skinner, responses that are the same topography may actually be functionally independent. Previous research has supported Skinner's assertion of functional independence (e.g., Hall & Sundberg, 1987; Lamarre & Holland, 1985), and some research has suggested that specific programming must be incorporated to achieve generalization across verbal operants (e.g., Sigafoos, Reichle, & Doss, 1990). The present study provides further analysis of the independence of verbal operants when teaching language to children with autism and other developmental disabilities. In the current study, 3 participants' vocal responses were first assessed as mands or tacts. Generalization for each verbal operant across alternate conditions was then assessed and subsequent training provided as needed. Results indicated that generalization across verbal operants occurred across some, but not all, vocal responses. These results are discussed relative to the functional independence of verbal operants as described by Skinner.     

Teaching children with autism to engage in peer-directed mands using a picture exchange communication system

We evaluated differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) plus prompting to increase peer-directed mands for preferred items using a picture exchange communication system (PECS). Two nonvocal individuals with autism participated. Independent mands with a peer increased with the implementation of DRA plus prompting for both participants. In addition, peers engaged in brief social interactions following the majority of mands for leisure items. These results suggest that teaching children to use PECS with peers may be one way to increase manding and social interactions in individuals with limited or no vocal repertoire.     

Manipulating establishing operations to verify and establish stimulus control during mand training

Acquisition of verbal behavior is a major goal of interventions for children with developmental disabilities. We evaluated the effectiveness of manipulation of an establishing operation for functional discriminated mands. Four individuals with developmental disabilities participated in a training procedure designed to teach two separate mands for two separate preferred items. Participants were taught to mand using picture cards. Following training, the manipulation of the establishing operation was used to assess and establish discriminated manding. This manipulation involved providing free access to one of the preferred items, such that there should be no motivation to ask for it, while motivation to ask for the other item remained in place. Three of the 4 participants acquired discriminated manding using topographically similar responses (picture cards). One participant did not acquire a discriminated mand until topographically distinct mands were taught (vocal and picture card). Results suggest that discrimination training is not necessarily sufficient to teach discriminated manding when more than one picture card showing preferred items is used. In addition, manipulation of the establishing operation served as an appropriate assessment tool for the verification of discriminated manding as well as a possible training tool to establish discriminated manding.     

DEVELOPMENT OF SPONTANEOUS MANDING IN LANGUAGE DEFICIENT CHILDREN

Six institutionalized children, aged 7–11, with little or no spontaneous vocal manding, were trained to request food items under appropriate natural conditions when snacks were presented. “I want a” was appropriate when an adult presented food in the playroom. “Out” was appropriate when the items were displayed in the hallway, across a half-door barrier from the child. A sequence of steps was trained, through increasingly naturalistic setting and cuing conditions. The two mands were trained in sequence, not concurrently. To encourage “spontaneous” productions, no vocal cuing was provided by the adult. After criterion performance in each step, several probe sessions were conducted for various cuing conditions, adults, and settings. Probes after imitation training showed no spontaneous manding. Thus, failure of manding was not due to production difficulties. In probes after training for “approximately” natural cues, most children showed little transfer to the natural cues. This implies that training for the specific appropriate cues may often be required. However, good transfer generally occurred across persons, and from training room to playroom. Probes also showed that most children did not use one of the trained mands in the stimulus conditions that were appropriate for the other mand. Thus, adding a second mand did not generally disrupt use of the first. However, significant disruption occurred for two children. Finally, at the end of training, extinction training was given for one mand in one setting. Performance of the other mand was litle affected. In sum, the appropriate form of a mand depends on specific stimulus and setting characteristics, and these characteristics must be considered in training.     

Teaching mands for information using speech generating devices: A replication and extension

Approximately 30% of individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) fail to develop vocal communication and, therefore, use some form of augmentative or alternative communication system. The current study replicates and extends previous research on teaching “Who?” and “Which?” mands for information to 3 young children diagnosed with ASD using a speech generating device. Procedures were evaluated using a multiple baseline across participants design. All participants learned to mand for information and, subsequently, used the information to access preferred items.     

Assessment of mand selection for functional communication training packages

We evaluated the effects of training novel and existing mands during functional communication training (FCT) to decrease problem behavior for 2 children. A functional analysis (Phase 1) identified mands for FCT. Phase 2 used distinct stimulus conditions to train novel and existing mands. Phase 3 evaluated allocation of responding within a concurrent-schedules design. When reinforcement for either mand was concurrently available, the children used existing mands more than novel mands, but higher levels of problem behavior occurred with existing mands.     

ON THE RELATION OF MANDS AND THE FUNCTION OF DESTRUCTIVE BEHAVIOR

When standard analogue functional analysis procedures produce inconclusive results in children with conversational speech, the child's mands may help to identify the function of destructive behavior. In the current investigation, functional analyses conducted with 2 children who exhibited self-injury, aggression, and property destruction were undifferentiated across conditions. Based on informal observations and school and parental report, an analysis was conducted using mands to help determine the function of the destructive behavior. Using a multielement design, the therapist's compliance with the child's mands occurred either on a fixed-ratio (FR) 1 schedule or contingent on destructive behavior. Destructive behavior occurred at high and consistent levels when reinforcement of mands was contingent on destructive behavior and at near-zero levels when reinforcement of mands occurred on the FR 1 schedule. Based on these results, a second analysis was conducted in which compliance to mands occurred only when the child appropriately requested it (i.e., functional communication training plus extinction) and, for 1 child, compliance with mands was terminated contingent upon destructive behavior (i.e., functional communication training plus response cost). For both children, the rates of destructive behavior decreased markedly. The results suggest that assessing the child's mands may be useful in decreasing destructive behavior when a functional analysis is inconclusive.     

Efficacy and social validity of procedures for improving conversational skills of college students with autism

Better conversational skills correspond to a higher quality of life for adults diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In this study, we taught vocal–verbal responses discriminated by compound arrangements of concealed conversation partner mands to two college students with ASD. Participants learned to engage in self-questioning about their conversation partner's behavior and to reinforce three concealed mands for termination of an aversive conversation scenario. We assessed generalization to conversation probes with trained confederates and to interactions with untrained conversational partners (e.g., peers, professors). Finally, we collected peer ratings of the social validity of changes in conversational behavior as well as participants' ratings of study goals, procedures, and outcomes.     

The functional independence of mands and tacts

This study demonstrates functional independence in the acquisition of mands and tacts. Some subjects first learned to mand the experimenter's placement of objects with the prepositional phrases “On the left” and “On the right.” They were regularly tested for collateral appearance of tacts with these same phrases. Other subjects learned to tact the location of objects with these prepositional phrases and were regularly tested for collateral appearance of mands. All subjects were next trained in the repertoire that had not been trained in the first condition (either tact or mand). After all subjects had learned both to mand and to tact correctly, another assessment of mand-tact independence was undertaken. Mands (tacts) were reversed and testing assessed collateral reversal of tacts (mands). The results demonstrated that tacts and mands, even when incorporating identical response forms, were functionally independent during acquisition. Subsequent modification of one repertoire (by reversal training) produced collateral reversal in three of nine subjects.     

COMBINING NONCONTINGENT REINFORCEMENT AND DIFFERENTIAL REINFORCEMENT SCHEDULES AS TREATMENT FOR ABERRANT BEHAVIOR

Research has shown that noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) can be an effective behavior-reduction procedure when based on a functional analysis. The effects of NCR may be a result of elimination of the contingency between aberrant behavior and reinforcing consequences (extinction) or frequent and free access to reinforcers that may reduce the participant's motivation to engage in aberrant behaviors or mands. If motivation is momentarily reduced, behavior such as mands may not be sensitive to positive reinforcement. In this study, for 3 children with aberrant behavior maintained by tangible positive reinforcement, differential-reinforcement-of-alternative-behavior schedules were superimposed on NCR schedules to determine if mands could be strengthened. Results for the participants indicated that NCR did not preclude reinforcement of mands.     

Teaching children with autism to mand for social information

We replicated Shillingsburg et al. (2018) by teaching children with autism to mand for social information while analyzing the variables influencing the emission of mands. We presented questions about a social partner that were known and observable (e.g., “What is Robin doing?”), known but unobservable (i.e., questions for which an intraverbal response had previously been taught, such as, “Where does Robin work?”), or unknown (e.g., “What is Robin's favorite food?”). Correct answers were reinforced across all conditions. During treatment, we prompted children to mand for information from the social partner following only unknown questions. All children acquired mands for social information and answered previously unknown questions correctly after manding for social information and 3 of 4 participants emitted mands to novel social partners, including a peer with autism.     

The speaker as listener

This study reports the results of an experiment with 4 female 5-year-old children, in which the verbal behavior of the children (talking to themselves) was studied under two conditions—an anthropomorphic toy condition and a nonanthropomorphic toy condition. The anthropomorphic condition consisted of three-dimensional toys such as dolls, stuffed animals, and figurines. The nonanthropomorphic toy condition consisted of two-dimensional materials such as puzzles, coloring books, and story books. The independent variables were the toy conditions. The dependent variables were verbal-behavior units; these included mands, tacts, intraverbals, autoclitics, and conversational units. The conditions were compared using a multiple schedule design. The results showed that more total units occurred in the anthropomorphic toy condition than in the nonanthropomorphic toy condition and that conversational units occurred in the anthropomorphic condition only. Consistent with Skinner's (1957) hypothesis, the children acted as both speaker and listener when emitting verbal behavior to themselves in the anthropomorphic condition.     

A preliminary evaluation of the emergence of novel mand forms

Strategies that produce generalized responding are valuable, especially with regard to language acquisition, because relatively little training may result in large behavior changes. Conditions that result in generalized manding were analyzed in the current study. We demonstrated in reversal designs that undesirable or single-word responses were the predominant mand forms of 3 preschool children. Multiple baseline designs with 2 participants and a reversal design with 1 participant were then used to demonstrate the extent to which differential reinforcement of single-word mands (e.g., "cars") or framed mands (e.g., "I want the cars, please") would result in the emergence of other single-word and framed mands for different items (e.g., mands for music, puppets, or puzzles). Results showed that prompting and differential reinforcement of one or two mand frames resulted in the emergence of other framed mands for all participants.     

Increasing the vocal responses of children with autism and developmental disabilities using manual sign mand training and prompt delay

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of manual sign mand training combined with prompt delay and vocal prompting on the production of vocal responses in nonvocal children with developmental disabilities. A multiple baseline design across participants verified the effectiveness of this intervention. All participants showed increases in vocal responses following the implementation of the independent variables.     

Mands for information generalize across establishing operations

The current study extends the literature on teaching mands for information by assessing whether mands generalize across different establishing operations (EOs). Three children with autism were taught to perform multiple behavior chains, 3 of which included a common response (e.g., “Where is the spoon?”) used for different purposes. An interrupted-behavior-chain procedure was used to contrive the EO for each mand. After teaching a mand for information under 1 EO, the remaining chains were interrupted to determine whether the mand had generalized to different EOs. For all participants, mands for information generalized across EOs. For 2 participants, a new mand-for-information topography emerged after training.