Alice Shillingsburg, PhD, BCBA-D Assessing and Programming for Emergence of Verbal Behavior in Children with ASD and Language Delays Alice Shillingsburg, PhD, BCBA-D

What is Emergence Production of untrained verbal operants Generative Language Producing novel sentences in ways that haven’t been produced previously Using language in new, novel ways Flexible use of verbal responses

“Daddy you have spider webs in your nose tunnels”

Behavioral Language Interventions for ASD Designed around Skinner’s Analysis of Verbal Behavior Verbal and Nonverbal Behavior Nonverbal behavior operates directly on the environment I want a drink, I go to the fridge and get it Verbal Behavior is socially mediated (operates on the environment through others) I want a drink, I ask for one, someone gives it to me Speaker and Listener Behavior Speaker Behavior (Verbal Operants) Mands, Tacts, Intraverbals Listener Behavior Receptive language/following instructions

Analysis of Verbal Behavior (Skinner, 1957) Benefits How language is being used, not merely what is being said Accurate description of an individual’s verbal behavior ability Important for intervention for those with language impairments Helps to identify language deficits and, therefore, goals Helps us to understand how to maintain verbal behavior once taught Natural contingencies that need to be programmed Maintenance and Generalization

Analysis of Verbal Behavior (Skinner, 1957) Functional independence of verbal operants and speaker and listener repertoires Should not assume usage of the same word across operants Should not assume speaker behavior results in listener behavior and vice versa

Analysis of Verbal Behavior (Skinner, 1957) Are the operants actually independent? Yes & No Hall & Sundberg, 1987 (Tact Mand) Petursdottir, Carr, & Michael, 2005 (Mand Tact) Kelley, et al., 2007 (Mand Tact) Shillingsburg, et al., 2009 (Mand Tact Intraverbal) Are speaker & listener language independent? Yes & No Nuzzolo-Gomez & Greer, 2004 (Listener Tact) Miguel & Kobari-Wright, 2013 (Tact Listener) Delfs, et al., 2014 (Tact Listener) Let’s see what we think about functional independence

Tact Increment hammer

Listener A B Functionally Independent?

Intraverbal—You use an increment hammer to_____________________________. Functionally Independent?

Tact by function (TFFC) Increment hammer

Intraverbal—You use an increment hammer to_____________________________. Intraverbal—You measure tree growth with an _____________________________. Functionally Independent?

Are the operants actually independent? Yes and No During normal development, interdependence occurs Across Operants Speaker to listener and vice versa At some point in development speaker and listener behaviors become interrelated (Horne & Lowe, 1996) Naming Learning in one leads to performance in the other

“ball” overtly or covertly “Go get the ball.” “What is it” “ball”

“What is it” “ball” “Which one is the the ball.”

Independence/Interdependence Why does it matter? Specific responses may need to be targeted across operants and both listener and speaker behavior may need to be taught……. What does this mean for language development and efficiency of intervention for those with language impairment? FOREVER?

Why it matters!!! Intervention programs should: Assess functional independence/interdependence Do untaught skills emerge Within and/or across verbal operants Across speaker and listener skills Integrate assessment results into programming Do something with the assessment information No interdependence---try to fix that!! Yes interdependence---teach efficiently!!

Objectives Studies on assessing and programming for emergence of untaught skills 1. Emergence within verbal operants (Tact) 2. Emergence across speaker and listener skills Receptive ID and Tacts Receptive by Feature, Function, Class (RFFC) and TFFC 3. Emergence of Intraverbals Contextual Teaching Problem Solving Strategy

Overarching Themes Careful selection and arrangement of stimuli prior to teaching Test-Train-Test Model Probing under extinction conditions

Who are We Programming For? Autism Spectrum Disorder Mild to moderate language impairment VB-MAPP Levels 2 and 3 Vocal language repertoire Strong basic mands and tacts Strong listener skills/RFFC Beginning complex tacts (word combinations, TFFCs) Beginning Intraverbals

Limited spontaneous or flexible intraverbals Pretty well developed RFFC Emits 10 mands without specific training 100s of tacts using nouns and/or verbs Answers some simple what questions but not more complex Noun-verb combinations Word combinations when Manding

Emergence within the Operant Children with autism Do not combine words into multi-word utterances when typically developing children do (Paul, Chawarska, Klin, & Volkmar, 2007) Despite having similar number of single words in repertoire Engage in rote, inflexible responding Interventions to promote word combinations in flexible, novel ways are needed

Emergence within the Operant Tact noun-verb combinations Dog sleeping, Boy drinking, etc Individual components in the repertoire Any number of combinations is possible Not interested in acquisition of directly taught targets Emergence of novel combinations

Emergence within the Operant Recombinative Generalization Process in which individuals come to produce and respond to novel combinations of known components (Goldstein & Mousetis, 1989) Involves teaching with overlapping stimuli Matrix Training Systematic method to organize overlapping stimuli within a matrix Reading/Spelling (e.g., Hanna, et al., 2004) Receptive actions in preschoolers with ASD (Axe & Sainato, 2010)

Diagonal Targets (Trained) Non-Diagonal Targets (Untrained)

Goals Recombination of targeted skills Each individual component was taught in a combination on the diagonal Probe recombined tact noun-verb targets Emergence of combining untargeted nouns and verbs Probe untargeted set (Generalization Matrix) The diagonal is never taught

Tact Noun-Verb comb. Frampton et al. (accepted)

Frampton et al. (accepted)

Results Recombination of targeted skills Emergence in untrained matrix for 4 participants When emergence did not occur? Multiple set training aided in emergence in untrained set for Jake

Emergence Across Speaker and Listener Receptive identification/tact item name Receptive Feature Function Class (RFFC)/ Tact Feature Function Class (TFFC)

Delfs et al (2014)

Emergence Across Speaker and Listener Examining emergence of RFFC/TFFC If you teach the RFFC, does TFFC emerge and vice versa Modify assessment for clinical use (i.e., shorter) Probe each target once Evaluate emergence of Intraverbal

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Intraverbal Emergence What about the intraverbal?

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Emergence of Intraverbals Tact and Listener training can result in emergence of intraverbals (Petursdottir, et al., 2008) Icelandic/Spanish language words Tact training alone can result in emergence of intraverbals (May et al., 2013) Tact categories and match-to-sample can result in emergence of intraverbals (Grannan & Rehfeldt, 2012) But what happens when intraverbals don’t emerge?

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Emergence of Intraverbals How do we get the intraverbal without teaching it? Two promising procedures to consider

Emergence of Intraverbals Prerequisite interrelated operants (known) Receptive ID (e.g., cup) Tact (e.g., cup) RFFC (e.g., point to the one you drink from) TFFC (e.g., this is something you use for ____) Embed Intraverbal frames within sessions with these 4 interrelated operants Examine effects on intraverbals that were interspersed Examine effects on other non-interspersed intraverbals Intraverbal frame

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23 of 24 Intraverbals 12 of 12 Intraverbals

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Problem Solving Strategy Teach a strategy to generate their own intraverbal responses Typically developing children and complex intraverbals Verbal Rules (Sauter, LeBlanc, Jay, Goldsmith, & Carr, 2011) Visual Imagining (Kisamore, Carr, & LeBlanc) Current study examined combination of verbal statements and visual sequencing Generate verbal explanations of how to do something Children with ASD and language impairments

Problem Solving Strategy Three pairs of activities with 4 steps to completion Play Bowling First, you set up the pins Next, you get the ball Then, you roll the ball Last, you knock over the pins Intraverbal response to “tell me how to….” Naturalistic probe (in the moment of the activity) Intraverbal Trials (at a teaching table; no materials) Problem Solving Strategy Sequencing pictures of the steps and using the rules: first, next, then, last

Conclusions Typical language development involves emergence of novel, untrained responses Emergence in individuals with language impairments may or may not occur Imperative to assess, modify practice, and develop procedures to enhance emergence Common themes Test-Train-Test model Practical Probes Multiple Exemplars/Across Sets Methods to promote generalization of skills and catapult rates of acquisition and flexible communication

Thank You!!! alice.shillingsburg@choa.org