 Vocal – the use of the vocal chords to produce speech.  Verbal – the use of language in any capacity to communicate. This can include sign, pictures, or words.

 Mand  Tact  Echoic  Intraverbal

 Another name for Request ◦ Asking for a reinforcer simply because you want it. Example: asking for a cookie because you want a cookieAntecedentResponseConsequenceMotivationCookie Get cookie

 Another term for labeling ◦ Naming or identifying objects, actions, event, etc.  Example: Saying “cookie” because you see a cookie.AntecedentResponseConsequence See a cookie “cookie” Social R+

 Also known as Vocal Imitation ◦ Repeating what is heard.  Example: Saying “cookie” after someone says “cookie”AntecedentResponseConsequence Hear “Cookie” “Cookie” Social R+

 “Wh” Questions ◦ Answering questions or having conversations where your words are controlled by other words.  Example: Saying “cookie” when someone else says “What is something that you eat?”AntecedentResponseConsequence “something that you eat?” “Cookie” Social R+

 Listener Behavior – Receptive ◦ Motor responses to what someone says  Example: Touching head after hearing somebody say “Touch your head”.AntecedentResponseConsequence Hear “touch head” Touch Head Social R+

 Definition: A verbal behavior in which the form of the response is controlled by the motivational or aversive condition which determined the behavior. (Asking for food when hungry). ◦ Most likely to occur when establishing operations (EOs) are strong.  An EO is a condition of deprivation or aversions which 1). Momentarily increases the value of some reinforcer (food, attention) AND 2) increases the likelihood that all behavior which has produced the reinforcer in the past is more likely.

 Mands also occur when you want an activity or object you haven’t had in awhile.  The mand is usually the first form of verbal behavior acquired since it produces immediate and the specific reinforcement requested. A baby’s cry could be the first form of mand that develops.  Individuals w/ developmental delays tend to develop mands which are maladaptive, such as SIB, Aggression, and Stereotypic Behavior. Teaching a vocal response or sign could help eliminate such behavior.  Tacts do NOT transfer to mands. Just because you can say “cookie” when you see a cookie does not mean you will ask for a cookie when one is not visible even though you are hungry. The transfer occurs when taught and not as a result of a cognitive process inside the person.

 Definition: A verbal behavior whose form is controlled by someone else’s verbal behavior with 1:1 correspondence. ◦ Easily shaped by parents because it is useful to the parent and others ◦ An essential first step towards teaching more complex verbal behavior and shaping articulation ◦ Develops quickly in typical children and transfers to tacting very quickly. ◦ Typical adults use the echoic repertoire to make their behavior more effective. Ex. Repeat complicated directions to help understand them.

◦ Echoic repertoire can usuallly be developed in persons with developmental delays but the behavior does not transfer to other more useful situations or occur spontaneously without training. ◦ Many persons w/ DD are best taught motor imitation initially as a first step towards teaching sign language ◦ Not all individuals will learn to speak vocally, so time is wasted trying to teach echoic responses when motor imitation should be taught to facilitate sign language.

 Definition: A verbal behavior under the control of the nonverbal environment which includes nouns, adjectives, pronouns, actions, relations, etc.

◦ Strengthened by social reinforcement. Listeners reinforce speakers for tacting because tacts provide useful information to them. ◦ Individuals who are not susceptible to social reinforcement do not readily acquire tacts during initial language training.

◦ Many people with disabilities never develop verbal behavior beyond receptive compliance and tacting due to ineffective teaching conditions.

 Definition: Verbal behavior which is under the control of other verbal behavior and is strengthened by social reinforcement. ◦ Example: The tendency to say “apple” when asked to name a fruit.

◦ Allows a person to talk about objects or events even when they are not present. ◦ Young typically developing children learn intraverbal behavior through nursery rhymes, counting by rote, and reciting the alphabet. ◦ Individuals with developmental disabilities have strong receptive and tacting skills, but not intraverbal or mand repertoires – many training programs do not directly teach intraverbal skills. ◦ HOWEVER, if a person has strong tact repertoire, the intraverbal repertoire can be developed quickly.

 Establishing Operation (EO) A) Temporarily increases the effectiveness or value of reinforcer B) Temporarily increases the behaviors that have been consequated by that reinforcer in the past.

 Neutral Stimulus – when a stimulus has not been associated with anything else.  Discriminative Stimulus (Sd) – a stimulus can become associated with another event when it is followed by either reinforcement or punishment. When the Sd is present, it indicates the availability or possibility of reinforcement or punishment.  S-Delta condition – when a stimulus is associated with the unavailability of reinforcement.

 1. After Sd, immediately present a prompt  2. Fade prompt by delaying  3. Require easy and mastered skills  4. Differentially reinforce (more reinforcement for independent responses).

 1. Immediately repeat demand and immediately prompt correct response  2. Fade the prompt on the next trial  3. Require some easy and mastered tasks  4. Repeat original demand  5. Differentially reinforce

 Mands should be the initial focus as a strong manding repertoire may be essential for the development of other types of verbal behavior  Teaches child that verbal behavior is valuable.  Could possibly replace problem behaviors  Begin by teaching child to ask for strongest reinforcers.  Teach at a time when motivation is the greatest for the item or activity. These times may vary day to day.

 Must occur in natural and every day environment where motivation is strongest  Contrive as many opportunities as possible – goal should be for hundreds of mands per day across settings and people  Prompt initially and fade prompt (least to most)

 Sign – Prompt sequence may include: ◦ Physical Prompt ◦ Gestural Prompt - imitate ◦ Echoic Prompt ◦ Item Fade all – No visuals present  Vocal – Prompt Sequence may include: ◦ Echoic Prompt ◦ Item Fade all - Audience PECS - follow procedures established by PECS

Teach to the Reach!!! SignVocal ModelModel Prompt Reinforce Reinforce Repeat

Following mastery of the mand “ball” Child mands for “ball” Staff states “What do you want?” Child states “ball” or provided prompt Child is Reinforced Vary presentation with differential reinforcement for responding to the question.

Ask Question: What is it? While presenting common object SignVocalModel PromptReinforce Reinforce Repeat FADE

 Transfer Mand to Tact :  Use Reinforcer Vocabulary to teach Tact  Child has car  Staff presents another car (child does not want)  Ask - What is it?  Sign: Model / Prompt / Reinforce / Repeat  Vocal: Model / Reinforce FADE

 Receptive - Carrier Phrase ◦ Present items ◦ state “point to _______” ◦ Full physical Prompt – Fade based on lesson plan ◦ Reinforce  Receptive – Feature / Function / Class ◦ Present items ◦ state “give me the one with wheels?” ◦ Full physical Prompt – Fade based on lesson plan ◦ Reinforce

 Designed to increase the number and intelligibility of vocal responses.  Candidates for vocal teaching procedures must possess these characteristics: ◦ Limited ability to echo words and sounds; however they do produce simple vowel and consonant sounds in isolation. ◦ Limited phoneme repertoire ◦ Difficulty producing and sequencing sounds ◦ Poor approximations that are resistant to change

 Teaching echoics to learners without vocal speech would need to be followed closely by trained Speech and Language Pathologists as there are very specific heirarchy of sounds to be learned.  Teaching echoics to learners without vocal speech would also need to be done in combination with either sign or pictures  Though the research supports non-vocal individuals as being able to learn some vocal speech, this is not true for everybody. NEVER tell a parent that their child will eventually speak. The goal is effective and appropriate communication and not necessarily vocal speech.

 The work space needs to be conducive to teaching. If the child does not want to be there, teaching techniques will be less effective.  Pair yourself with the reinforcers – in other words, condition yourself as a reinforcer. If you are reinforcing to the student, you will get better results.  Correlate the appearance of the teacher, instructional materials and setting (table) with relatively more valuable and higher frequency of reinforcement compared to the setting the child was asked to leave. May be necessary to isolate highly preferred activies/items or edibles to the work space.  Find things that the child likes to play with, look at, eat, etc…. It’s important to identify preferences prior to beginning a “work” session.  Make demands low at first and gradually fade in more difficult demands.  Criteria for removal of reinforcing items and when to honor mands need to be predetermined. It’s important to avoid reinforcing inappropriate behavior.  If the child won’t willingly sit and participate, then you have not found preferences.  Once responses are achieved at the “work” station, generalize the response in the natural environment.

 Research suggests that it may be better to mix and vary demands rather than mass trials. ◦ This method appears to reduce the value of escape as a reinforcer.

 Use “errorless” teaching methods to ensure high levels of correct responding ◦ Use time-delay prompt procedures – these produce the lowest rate of student errors ◦ Also tends to favor quick and correct responding ◦ Difficult tasks are transformed into easy tasks ◦ Use error correction procedures in the event of a student error. ◦ The effect of errorless teaching procedures is to maintain the value of the reinforcer delivered for correct responding at its highest level ◦ “Prompt dependency” appears to be the result of the effectivness of reinforcement and unnecessary prompting and not the time-delay prompting procedures.

 This should help reduce problem behavior by reducing the value of escape as a reinforcer ◦ Each demand becomes a “promise” of reinforcement rather than a threat of no reinforcement ◦ Easy demands results in increased rates of responding and increased rates of reinforcement

 This will help keep the child from associating the work area with a high demand situation  Escape related problem behaviors will be lower due to the lack in need for the escape  Some students with a long history of escape maintained behavior will still have a difficult time even with lower demands. Extinction for these behaviors will also be necessary.

 6. Fade in Effort/Difficult of Tasks  7. Use Extinction for Problem Behavior When Needed  8. Immediately Deliver Reinforcement  9. Pace Instruction Properly ◦ Fast Pace Delivery can reduce problem behavior ◦ Inter-trial intervals of about 2 seconds seem to produce maximal benefit