Transcript Why Children With Autism Often Fail to Acquire a

Verbal Behavior: A Bridge Between
Conceptual, Experimental, and Applied
Areas of Behavior Analysis
Mark L. Sundberg, Ph.D., BCBA-D
(www.marksundberg.com)
Behavior Analysis
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Behavior analysis is comprised of three general fields
Conceptual (e.g., Skinner’s About Behaviorism)
Experimental (e.g., JEAB)
Applied (e.g., JABA)
It is not uncommon to see them treated separately in journals, at
conferences, and in practice
Behavior analysis can be more powerful in solving human problems
if all three areas are integrated
The complexities of verbal behavior forces us to bring these areas
together, but also provides us with opportunities to make more
substantial gains in clinical interventions
Verbal Behavior
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The most significant aspects of human behavior involve
verbal behavior
language acquisition
education
social behavior and relationships
knowledge, thinking, and intellectual behavior
literature, poetry, stories, novels
understanding
employment
beliefs, views, & opinions
international relations
Verbal Behavior
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Skinner’s analysis of verbal behavior is a conceptual analysis of
language
“an exercise in interpretation rather than a quantitative extrapolation of
rigorous experimental results” (Skinner 1957, p. 11)
But, the conceptual analysis is based on data from the
experimental analysis of behavior (EAB)
“The emphasis is on an orderly arrangement of well-known facts, in
accordance with a formulation of behavior derived from an
experimental analysis of a more rigorous sort.” (p. 11)
“much of the experimental work responsible for this advance has been
carried out with other species” (p. 3)
Verbal Behavior
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These first two give rise to a potential wealth of applications
(ABA)
“The formulation is inherently practical and suggests immediate
technological applications at almost every step (p. 12)
Today, I would like to present two examples of how these
three areas of behavior analysis can be used to improve our
understanding and treatment of the growing human problem of
children who cannot communicate, or have significant
language delays
Motivational Control vs.
Stimulus Control
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A ubiquitous problem in the treatment of language delays for
children with autism and other developmental disabilities is the
neglect of motivation (MOs) as an antecedent controlling
variable
For example, children are often taught to ask for information
when they really don’t care about the information provided:
“What’s your name” “What’s that?”
The response comes under stimulus control (SD) not
motivational control (MO), thus an impaired verbal operant (a
rote response)
There are many other examples of impaired mands (e.g., a child
asking for things he doesn’t really want, negative behavior
functioning as mands, excessive manding)
Motivational Control vs.
Stimulus Control
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The three areas of behavior analysis come together nicely for
providing direction for these types of verbal problems
Conceptual analysis: The mand (Skinner, 1957); Motivational
control is different from stimulus control (mand vs. tact)
Experimental analysis: (Skinner 1938 “Drive not a stimulus”
Keller & Schoenfeld, 1950: literature review)
Applied analysis: (Sautter & LeBlanc, 2006: literature review)
There must be an MO controlling the response form in order for
the response to be classified as a mand
A variety of procedures have been presented in the literature on
contriving and capturing MOs for the purposes of mand training
Verbal Conditional Discriminations
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The applied problem: Many children with autism fail to acquire
intraverbal behavior, despite strong mand, tact, and listener repertoires
There often is some intraverbal stimulus control demonstrated, but the
control is lost when verbal conditional discrimination are involved
Verbal SD
Response
“Where is the refrigerator?”
“Cold”
“What grows on your head?”
“Plants”
“Who drives the car?”
“Street”
“Where are the trees?”
“Leaves”
“Where do you eat?”
“Spoon”
“What helps a flower grow?”
“Up”
Conditional Discriminations
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Conditional discrimination: “When the nature or extent of
operant control by a stimulus condition depends on some other
stimulus condition” (Michael, 1993, p. 14)
One discriminative stimulus (SD) or motivational operation (MO)
alters the evocative effect of a second stimulus, and establishes
the second stimulus as a discriminative stimulus (SD)
Conditional Discriminations
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Extensive behavioral research on conditional discriminations
(CDs)
Most of it involves matching-to-sample tasks consisting of
nonverbal CDs (e.g., Debert, Matos, & McIlvane, 2007)
Some of it involves verbal stimuli and nonverbal response
(receptive discriminations) (e.g., Kelly, Green, & Sidman, 1998)
However, there is very little behavioral research on verbal
conditional discriminations and verbal responses (intraverbal
behavior)
Catania (1998) provides some conceptual direction with his
analysis of how a verbal context alters the evocative effect of
other verbal stimuli via conditional discriminations
Verbal Conditional
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Discriminations (VC )
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What constitutes a verbal conditional discrimination and an
intraverbal response?
Two components of a verbal stimulus where one verbal stimulus
alters the evocative effect of the second verbal stimulus, and
collectively they evoke a differential intraverbal response
Skinner (1957, p. 76) calls this a “compound verbal stimulus,” but
does not use the term “conditional discrimination” or its definition
Antecedent
Response
Verbal SD1 + Verbal SD2
Intraverbal Response
Verbal Conditional
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Discriminations (VC )
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Examples...
Antecedent (Verbal SD1 + Verbal SD2 )
Intraverbal Response
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Define a mand
Exemplify a mand
Define a tact
Exemplify a tact
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VCD=VSD1 alters the evocative effect of VSD2 or vice versa
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A type of verbal behavior...
Saying “car” as a function...
A type of verbal behavior...
Saying “car” as a function...
Verbal Conditional
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Discriminations (VC )
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More complex examples...
Antecedent (VSD1 + VSD2 + VSD3)
Intraverbal Response
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Define a disguised mand
Define a magical mand
Define a self-mand
Define an autoclitic mand
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VSD1 + VSD2 + VSD3 + VSD4
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A response controlled by...
A mand that cannot be...
A mand where the speaker...
A type of secondary verbal...
Define a manipulative autoclitic mand A type of secondary...
Exemplify a quantitative autoclitic tactA type of secondary…
Verbal Conditional Discriminations
Back to our applied problem. What might the research on conditional discriminations tell
us?
Verbal SD
Response
“Where is the refrigerator?”
“Cold”
“What grows on your head?”
“Plants”
“Who drives the car?”
“Street”
“Where are the trees?”
“Leaves”
“Where do you eat?”
“Spoon”
“What helps a flower grow?”
“Up”
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The individual components must first demonstrate stimulus control (e.g.,
“grows” and “head” “mand” and “tact”)
These individual operants can then be systematically brought together in a
conditional discrimination task using a variety of procedures (e.g., Saunders &
Spradlin, 1989)
Conclusion
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Behavior analysis can be more powerful in solving human
problems if the three elements of the field are respected
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The challenges of teaching individuals with autism can best be
understood when behavior analysts look to the roots of the
field, which are in the conceptual and experimental analyses of
behavior
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Verbal behavior provides a valuable connection between the
three areas of behavior analysis
Thank You!
For an electronic version of this
presentation visit:
marksundberg.com/ABAI