Training intraverbal bidirectional naming to establish generalized equivalence class performances

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of tact and intraverbal training on the establishment of generalized equivalence classes. Seventeen college students were exposed to tact training, listener testing, and intraverbal training (A'B’ and B'C’) in two experiments. Visual–visual matching‐to‐sample and intraverbal tests measured performances consistent with the formation of equivalence classes. Generalization was assessed with four novel sets of stimuli. In the second experiment, matching‐to‐sample tests for baseline relations (AB, BC) were eliminated to control for the possibility that equivalence classes were developed through exposure to these visual stimulus–stimulus relations. Thirteen of 17 participants passed all matching‐to‐sample and intraverbal posttests. Results suggest that when trained and emergent intraverbal relations were not maintained or were faulty, participants did not respond correctly during matching‐to‐sample posttests.     

The impact of body-part-naming training on the accuracy of imitative performances in 2- to 3-year-old children

A series of three experiments explored the relationship between 3-year-old children's ability to name target body parts and their untrained matching of target hand-to-body touches. Nine participants, 3 per experiment, were presented with repeated generalized imitation tests in a multiple-baseline procedure, interspersed with step-by-step training that enabled them to (i) tact the target locations on their own and the experimenter's bodies or (ii) respond accurately as listeners to the experimenter's tacts of the target locations. Prompts for on-task naming of target body parts were also provided later in the procedure. In Experiment 1, only tact training followed by listener probes were conducted; in Experiment 2, tacting was trained first and listener behavior second, whereas in Experiment 3 listener training preceded tact training. Both tact and listener training resulted in emergence of naming together with significant and large improvements in the children's matching performances; this was true for each child and across most target gestures. The present series of experiments provides evidence that naming--the most basic form of self-instructional behavior--may be one means of establishing untrained matching as measured in generalized imitation tests. This demonstration has a bearing on our interpretation of imitation reported in the behavior analytic, cognitive developmental, and comparative literature.     

Training preschool children to use visual imagining as a problem-solving strategy for complex categorization tasks

It has been suggested that verbally sophisticated individuals engage in a series of precurrent behaviors (e.g., covert intraverbal behavior, grouping stimuli, visual imagining) to solve problems such as answering questions (Palmer, 1991; Skinner, 1953). We examined the effects of one problem solving strategy--visual imagining--on increasing responses to intraverbal categorization questions. Participants were 4 typically developing preschoolers between the ages of 4 and 5 years. Visual imagining training was insufficient to produce a substantial increase in target responses. It was not until the children were prompted to use the visual imagining strategy that a large and immediate increase in the number of target responses was observed. The number of prompts did not decrease until the children were given a rule describing the use of the visual imagining strategy. Within-session response patterns indicated that none of the children used visual imagining prior to being prompted to do so and that use of the strategy continued after introduction of the rule. These results were consistent for 3 of 4 children. Within-session response patterns suggested that the 4th child occasionally imagined when prompted to do so, but the gains were not maintained. The results are discussed in terms of Skinner's analysis of problem solving and the development of visual imagining.     

Effects of foreign mand training on the emergence of foreign tact and listener responses for Chinese-speaking children with autism spectrum disorder

In China, there is an increasing demand for preschool children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) enrolled in general education to learn English vocabulary. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of foreign mand training in English on the acquisition of mand responses, and the emergence of tact and listener responses for three Chinese-speaking preschool children (boys; 4–5 years of age) with ASD. Echoic-to-mand training was implemented to teach mands in English. The study employed a concurrent multiple-probe design across behaviors. The results of the study indicated that the training was effective in the acquisition of mand responses. Moreover, untaught tacts and listener responses for the same vocabulary emerged without explicit training. Implications for small-group mand training in foreign language acquisition were discussed.     

Presession attention affects the acquisition of tacts and intraverbals

This study examined the effects of presession attention on the acquisition of tacts (Experiment 1) and intraverbals (Experiment 2) in children diagnosed with autism. Each participant experienced 3 conditions. In the first 2 conditions, participants experienced a 15-min interval of either presession attention (PA) or no presession attention (NPA) followed by a teaching session. The third condition was a control condition. Across experiments, all participants acquired the verbal operants assigned to the NPA condition, whereas only 4 of the 6 participants acquired the verbal operants assigned to the PA condition. Five of the 6 participants required fewer sessions to meet the mastery criterion and a shorter duration of training for the verbal operants assigned to the NPA condition as compared to the PA condition. These outcomes suggest that antecedent manipulations traditionally reserved for mand training can positively affect the acquisition of other verbal operants. Theoretical implications are discussed.     

Teaching children with autism spectrum disorder to tact auditory stimuli

Studies on teaching tacts to individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have primarily focused on visual stimuli, despite published clinical recommendations to teach tacts of stimuli in other sensory domains as well. In the current study, two children with ASD were taught to tact auditory stimuli under two stimulus‐presentation arrangements: isolated (auditory stimuli presented without visual cues) and compound (auditory stimuli presented with visual cues). Results indicate that compound stimulus presentation was a more effective teaching procedure, but that it interfered with prior object‐name tacts. A modified compound arrangement in which object‐name tact trials were interspersed with auditory‐stimulus trials mitigated this interference.     

The effects of verbal operant training and response interruption and redirection on appropriate and inappropriate vocalizations

Past research has shown that response interruption and redirection (RIRD) can effectively decrease automatically reinforced motor behavior (Hagopian & Adelinis, 2001). Ahearn, Clark, MacDonald, and Chung (2007) found that a procedural adaptation of RIRD reduced vocal stereotypy and increased appropriate vocalizations for some children, although appropriate vocalizations were not targeted directly. The purpose of the current study was to examine the effects of directly targeting appropriate language (i.e., verbal operant training) on vocal stereotypy and appropriate speech in 3 children with an autism spectrum disorder. The effects of verbal operant (i.e., tact) training were evaluated in a nonconcurrent multiple baseline design across participants. In addition, RIRD was implemented with 2 of the 3 participants to further decrease levels of vocal stereotypy. Verbal operant training alone produced slightly lower levels of stereotypy and increased appropriate vocalizations for all 3 participants; however, RIRD was required to produce acceptably low levels of stereotypy for 2 of the 3 participants.