Designing effective programmes for verbal development

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• Designing effective programmes for verbal
  development

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Verbal Behaviour

• Skinner (1957) defined verbal behaviour as
• behavior reinforced through the mediation
• of other personsAny behavior capable of
• affecting another organism may be verbal (p.2)
• Typical 3 year old children emit around 20,000
  words per day
• (Sundberg Partington, 1997)

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Verbal Behaviour

• Skinner proposed that language is behaviour that
  is primarily influenced by environmental
  variables such as reinforcement, motivation,
  extinction and punishment.
• This view of language differs substantially from
  other views that assume language is primarily
  caused by cognitive or biological variables
  (Piaget, 1926 Pinker, 1994)

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Behavioural Approach to Language

• Language is analysed by its formal and functional
  properties (Catania, 1974)
• Formal properties physical description or
  specific response topographies or classes of
  responses (e.g. nouns, verbs, adjectives,
  pronouns). Includes syntax and adherence to
  grammatical conventions

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Behavioural Approach to Language

• Functional properties also include the
  circumstances under which responses occur i.e. an
  analysis of the discriminative stimuli,
  motivational operations, and consequences that
  control a response or class of responses
• Formal properties articulation, intonation,
  pitch, emphasis etc

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Behavioural Approach to Language

• In Skinners analysis of verbal behaviour he
  distinguished between different types of
  functional control of verbal operants. This
  allows for identification of these functionally
  different types of language

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Behavioural Approach to Language

• Mand From Demand a verbal behaviour where the
  speaker asks for what he wants (in a pure mand,
  the object is not present)
• Tact A verbal operant where the response is
  controlled by a prior nonverbal stimulus. i.e.
  see a chair and say chair. It is a labelling or
  naming behaviour. (Happens in the presence of the
  stimulus)
• Echoic/Mimetic Imitative repertoire the
  stimulus is auditory/visual and the response is
  an identical auditory/visual

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Behavioural Approach to Language

• Receptive Non verbally responding to the
  language of others
• RFFC Receptive understanding by Feature,
  Function or Class touch a dog when asked which
  one barks?
• Intraverbal A type of verbal stimulus that lacks
  point-to-point correspondence to the response
  (the stimulus and response dont match)
• Textual A vocal response is controlled by a
  written stimulus

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Teaching Meaning
dog
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Language Based Environment

• Language must be viewed as the focus of programme
• Language must be used in all other activities
• Large number of trials in a variety of conditions
  and under different motivational conditions must
  be arranged
• Tutors need to know when to reinforce and how to
  fade out any artificial quality of programme
• Tutors need to maximise opportunities to respond
  verbally

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Establishing Rapport

• Pair the presence of the tutor with delivery of
  reinforcement
• Compile list of reinforcers
• Compile list of ways to provide access to other
  reinforcing events (push a swing)
• Do not interrupt fun activity to take the child
  to a work situation

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Requiring the first response

• Consider Time and Effort
• Ideally, by learning to co-operate with the
  tutor, the student should be able to get access
  to a wider variety of reinforcers and better
  reinforcers for less effort (i.e. complying with
  an instruction rather than engaging in another,
  possibly disruptive, behaviour)

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Requiring the first response

• Ideal teaching situation involves tutor having an
  item that is reinforcing at that exact moment
• This item is only available through tutor at that
  point in time
• The child must do something that is specified by
  the instructor to access the reinforcer
• Go slowly in establishing instructional control

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Motivational Operation

• Any event or stimulus condition that momentarily
  alters
• the reinforcing effectiveness of other events
• the frequency of behaviours relevant to those
  events as consequences

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Skinner on Motivation

• a person who needs or wants food is particularly
  likely to be reinforced by food and is
  particularly likely to engage in behavior which
  has been previously reinforced by food (Skinner,
  1974, p55)
• a person under aversive control is particularly
  likely to be reinforced if he escapes and to
  engage in behavior which has led to escape (p55)

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Indicators of Success

• Child comes readily to tutor
• Reinforcing relationship formed
• Move on to Mand training as soon as possible
  after positive relationship is developed

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Contriving Motivational Operations

• Give the child a bowl of ice cream without a
  spoon
• Give the child a glass without liquid in it
• Give the child a cassette player with no tape in
  it
• Give the child a colouring book but no crayon
• Put the child on the swing but dont push
• Bring the child to the computer but dont turn it
  on
• Give the child a Tupperware container with a
  reinforcer in it
• Play a game but stop abruptly.

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Beginning Language Training

• Mand request for something that is reinforcing
• Mands directly benefit the speaker
• All children get hungry, need attention,
• want items, need things removed, want
• TV turned on etc.
• Can we capture this motivation (Motivational
• Operation) and use in language training?

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Focus on Motivation

• There are several variables that will increase
• the chances of successfully teaching a child
• to mand
• Strong forms of reinforcement
• A variety of prompts
• Systematic fading of prompts
• Choose appropriate form of response

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Focus on Motivation

• There are several variables that will increase
• the chances of successfully teaching a child
• to mand
• Strong forms of reinforcement
• A variety of prompts
• Systematic fading of prompts
• Choose appropriate form of response

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Is modality the key?

• In defining verbal behavior as behavior
  reinforced through the mediation of other
  persons, we do not, and cannot, specify one form,
  mode, or medium (p. 14)

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First Words

• Select words for reinforcers that can be easily
  controlled
• Consumables
• Short duration reinforcers
• Reinforcers that are easily removed
• Reinforcers that are easily delivered
• Reinforcers that can be delivered on multiple
  occasions
• Select words that the child already has in their
  receptive, echoic, or imitative repertoires

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First Words

• Select words/pictures/signs that relevant to the
  child in his daily life
• Select words for a variety of different
  categories (e.g., food, toys, video, music, play)
• Avoid similar sounding words
• Avoid words with negative history (e.g., bed,
  toilet, no)

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Procedure

• Instructor should hold up food item and say
• What do you want? And/or
• Say Eat
• If child emits approximation to eat reinforce
• If child fails to respond represent item
• Bring in different potential reinforcing items
• Try different response mode
• Work on compliance

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Fade out Echoic

• Training for manding begins in this phase.
• Fade out echoic by
• Use a time delay procedure (delay between verbal
  instruction and prompt)
• Partial prompting
• The objective is to get child to say eat
• without delivering the echoic prompt

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Curriculum Development

• Manding
• Imitation
• Receptive skills
• Matching to Sample skills

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Trial Sequence

• All areas should be presented in a mixed
• order to maintain interest. This is called
• Mixed Verbal Behaviour or Mixed VB
• Sequence
• Do this while clapping
• Say Dog, Touch Nose
• Say Cup, Do this touch head, Match
• Green

Mand trial
Mand trial
Mand trial
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Vocal Imitation

• Objective
• To get the child to emit a specific sound
• on request
• Tips
• Use commonly heard sounds
• Pair adult vocalisations with reinforcers
• Mix in with other trials

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Receptive Language

• Objective
• To teach child to respond to the language
• of others
• Basic instructions
• Get coat Give me ________
• Come here Stand up
• Sit down Go to _________
• Touch ________
• Point to ________
• Use errorless learning do not let child get
  trial wrong

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Matching to sample

• Objective
• To develop instructional control and to develop
  awareness of the environment.
• Child should be taught to match
• Object-Object Picture Picture
• Object Picture Picture Object
• Colour - Colour Picture Non identical picture
• Letter Letter Letters Words
• Words - Pictures

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Matching to sample
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Matching non identical pictures
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Matching to word to picture
dog
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Matching letters to words
t
a
c
c a t
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Summary

• Children should be able to engage in the
• following mixed tasks before proceeding
• Mand for reinforcers
• Imitate some actions
• Echo some sounds and words
• Follow a number of commands
• Match items
• Trials should be mixed VB to teach the child
• that work is necessary before manding is
• appropriate

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Developing the Language ProgrammeTacts
Receptive Skills

• Prerequisite
• Children have either some echoic skills or some
  imitative skills
• Tact
• The ability to verbally label items or actions in
  the environment
• Tacts Receptive responses may be taught at the
  same time for each new word.

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Problem

• We want to teach child to name things
• regardless of being motivated for the
• objects.
• Objective
• Fade out delivery of specific item (in this
• case car). The child must learn to name
• things without expecting to receive the item.

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Usual Sequence

• Tact objects in the environment
• Tact verbs
• Tact actions of objects
• Tact properties of objects
• Include properties with actions and object
• Tact prepositions, Pronouns
• Tact sensory input (e.g. smell, hear)
• Tact private events

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Using Mixed Trials

• Using a mixed trial format, we can more easily
  approximate the pace and interaction style of
  conversational exchange conversations do not
  typically involve repeated presentations of the
  same type of question e.g. what is this? What is
  this? What is this? etc

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Using Mixed Trials

• With some learners, we may find that presenting
  instructions in a mixed format helps to keep
  attention. The learner cant anticipate what type
  of trial will come next and so must pay closer
  attention to the tutor

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Using Mixed Trials

• Learners get opportunities to be both speakers
  and listeners when using a mixed trial format. It
  is important to programme for this kind of
  initiation, rather than hoping that it will
  happen naturally c.f. communication groups

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Data collection

• A general rule for data collection is that trials
  should be performed in sets of fives corrects
  and incorrects are written down at the conclusion
  of the trial sequence on a Mixed Trial Data
  Sheet

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Mixed Trial Data Sheet
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Ensure that the Sd is unpredictable

• Take, for example, a learner who is doing trials
  composed of
• See/do GMI (clap hands, touch head, arms out)
• See/say common object (cup, keys, doll)
• Hear/give common object (as above)
• The data sheet could look like this

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Ensure that the Sd is unpredictable

• Take, for example, a learner who is doing trials
  composed of
• See/do GMI (clap hands, touch head, arms out)
• See/say common object (cup, keys, doll)
• Hear/give common object (as above)
• The data sheet could look like this

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Ensure that the Sd is unpredictable
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Ensure that the Sd is unpredictable

• The data sheet titles will be designed by the
  supervisor
• The individual movements will be written in by
  the tutors daily, ensuring that they change every
  day
• In this way, there is no chance of sequencing of
  instructionsso a possible set of two trial
  sequences could look like this

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Ensure that the Sd is unpredictable
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Ensure that the Sd is unpredictable
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Charting Mixed Trials

• Charting is on a Daily per day chart, with the
  number of opportunities of each set of trials
  being decided by the supervisor
• Unless otherwise specified by a supervisor, each
  individual task in the mixed trial set should
  also have rate data taken

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Practical exercises

• Break up into groups of twos
• Take turns to be the instructor and the student
• Materials are available from the Workshop
  Facilitators

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Exercise one

• Teaching the following trial elements
• See/match common items (cup, apple, hat)
• See/do GMI (clap hands, touch nose, arms up)
• Hear/give common items (cup, apple, hat)
• Student mands vocally

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Exercise two

• Teaching the following trial elements
• Hear /say phonic sounds (a as in mat, m as in
  man, ee as in eat)
• Hear/do motor movements (clap hands, touch nose,
  stamp feet, touch tummy)
• Hear/give common items (cup, apple, hat,
  toothbrush, shoe)
• Student mands vocally

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Teaching conversation skills

• Why teach conversational skills? Conversations
  are the way in which people find out about their
  immediate world.
• We can request information about people, things,
  places, - express our needs and wants, and pass
  on information about ourselves and things that
  are important to us.
• Children with language delays often do not obtain
  conversation skills naturally.

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Teaching conversation skills

• Why teach conversational skills? Conversations
  are the way in which people find out about their
  immediate world.
• We can request information about people, things,
  places, - express our needs and wants, and pass
  on information about ourselves and things that
  are important to us.
• Children with language delays often do not obtain
  conversation skills naturally.

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Teaching conversation skills

• Skinner used the term Intraverbal behaviour to
  refer to the behaviours that occur when someone
  can appropriately respond to the verbal behaviour
  of another person without just echoing or merely
  following the instruction.
• Social interactions and conversations primarily
  involve intraverbal behaviour.
• Once our learner has demonstrated some of the
  component skills we have talked about, our aim is
  to develop a conversational repertoire for the
  learner.

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Teaching conversation skills

• The skills involved in being able to have a
  conversation are many of the skills we have
  talked about so far.
• A conversation between 2 people may consist of
  labelling things or events (tacting), requesting
  something (manding), following instructions
  (receptive) and imitating something the other
  person has said (echoic).

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Teaching Conversation skills

• Once a child has is able to mand for different
  reinforcers, is able to tact a range of objects,
  people and colours etc (a combination of 50 or
  more) and is beginning RFFC activities, we can
  begin to shape up simple conversation through
  teaching intraverbals.

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Teaching Conversation skills

• Using a fill-in-the-blank strategy around
  something the child finds reinforcing is often a
  good starting point.
• While singing a song together leave out a key
  word (one that you know the child has the ability
  to make even a good approximation of)
• Old Mac Donald had a ----, ee-ay, ee-ay -----

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Teaching conversation skills

• In the beginning use visual prompts
• and on that he had a
• Begin expecting the child to fill in more and
  more blanks.
• Fade out prompts
• Do this activity with different songs, different
  people and in different locations to help
  generalise the skill

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• When the child is able to match items by
  association, begin teaching word associations.
• Use an activity sheet and visual supports in the
  beginning.
• Teacher shows a picture and asks the child to
  tact it.
• Teacher writes down the word, then asks
• What goes with a pencil?

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• Word Association Activity
• What goes with a
• Pencil ?

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• Word Association Activity
• What goes with a
• Pencil ? Paper

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• Teacher then asks
• They go together because?
• And prompts the child to say
• pencil writes on paper
• The task can be expanded using different items
  where concepts such as feature, function, class,
  colour, sound are being taught.

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Teaching conversation skills

• Commenting on what is going on around them is one
  aspect of conversation many children with Autism
  find difficult.
• To shape up the ability to comment, begin by
  teaching the child to tact objects at the desk
• Expand this skill by placing those objects around
  the room and teach them to tact as you point
• The same skill can be demonstrated with people,
  animals and favourite t.v. characters

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Teaching conversation skills

• When tacting is fluent, expand this skill even
  further by teaching the child to use the carrier
  phrase I see.
• Again, use full and partial verbal and visual
  prompts to help in the early stages.

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Teaching conversation skills

• Barney! becomes
• see Barney! becomes ,
• I see Barney when you point to him and hold up
  an I see icon

I see
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Teaching conversation skills

• This activity can be even further expanded by
  asking the child
• tell me some things you see in the room?
• I see Barney, I see Bob, I see ball and I see
  shoes.
• Begin by using a point prompt if necessary and
  fade this out as responding becomes more fluent

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Teaching conversation skills

• The same procedure can be used using the childs
  favourite videos.
• Teach the child to tact the characters using the
  paused video or flashcards - who do you see?.
• Expand the response by introducing the I see
  carrier phrase.
• Then develop conversations while watching the
  video together.

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• While watching the video with your child, press
  pause while known characters are on the screen
  and ask
• Who do you see? I see Milo. Continue
  watching and pause when another character
  appears.
• Expand this by pausing when several characters
  are present
• Who do you see? I see Bella
• Well done, who else do you see?

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• As the child learns to label colours, actions,
  features etc, use questions to give more
  opportunities to respond -
• Who do you see? I see Fizz
• What is she doing? reading
• Thats right, what colour is her dress?
• red. (start video again) Who do you see
  now?...

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• The same teaching procedure can be used to shape
  up commenting about familiar people or things.
• Record contrived situations (Mum and brother
  playing on the swing set), watch the video
  together and use the same pause/question
  procedure

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Teaching conversation skills

• Who can you see?- I see Mummy and Paul
  What are we doing? Paul is swinging What
  is Mummy doing? Pushing- Well done, What
  colour is the slide? yellow Great! What
  is Paul wearing?- shorts- What else is he
  wearing? -A hat Fantastic, you are so
  clever, lets watch some more

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Teaching conversation skills

• Expand generalise conversation further by using
  the same procedure around real life play
  activities
• Whilst playing with trains ask
• What colour is this train? Green
• What sounds does a train make? Whoo Whoo
• Who drives the train? The Train Driver
• How many carriages are on the train?- Two
• Where will the train stop? At the station

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Teaching conversation skills

• Generalise commenting skills into all settings in
  the natural environment
• Ask Wh. Questions while travelling in the car
• Whilst out for a walk or in the park or shops
• About favourite t.v. programmes
• Whilst setting the table or getting ready for bed.

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Teaching conversation skills

• To make commenting more spontaneous begin to fade
  out direct questions when the child can readily
  answer them.
• Use a partial question and wait for a reply
  What? Who?
• Gesture towards objects rather than asking about
  them
• Use excited/expectant facial expressions

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Teaching conversation skills

• Listening and replying to another persons verbal
  behaviour is only part of having a conversation
• Children with Autism and language delay often do
  not readily initiate conversation
• Using structured templates can help teach
  children how to initiate and maintain a
  conversation

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Teaching conversation skills

• Structuring topical conversations develops the
  childs ability to talk about a topic for
  extended periods of time.
• This exercise teaches the child the basic
  structure of conversation in which they choose a
  topic they know something about and ask and
  answer questions about it

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• Topical Conversation Activity
• Topic _____________
• (what do you want
• to talk about?) 1)___________
• 2)___________
• 3)___________
• 4)___________

Christmas
cars
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Teaching conversation skills

• Using this template, Teacher says-
• What do you want to talk about? and assists
  the child to name the topic by choosing from the
  pictures below.
• Teacher then writes the topic on the first line
  of the page and places pictures on the bottom of
  the structure sheet

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• Teacher then asks
• what can we see at the Zoo?
• and allows the child to label some things by
  choosing from the pictures on the board

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Topical Conversation Activity Topic
The zoo (what do you want to talk
about?) 1)___________ 2)___________ 3)
___________ 4)___________
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• The child should be able to label at least 4
  things you might see or do
• As they select items, the teacher should stick
  the picture and write the word on the line on the
  structure sheet

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• Topical Conversation Activity
• Topic The Zoo
• (what do you want
• to talk about)
• 1) Lions Tigers
• 2) Monkeys
• 3) Snakes
• 4) Ice-cream

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• When at least 4 items have been chosen, the sheet
  can be used to guide the conversation
• Tell me some things you see at the Zoo?
• Lions and Tigers
• What do tigers have on their fur?
• They have stripes
• Can you think of anything else you see at the
  zoo?
• Snakes
• Yes! What colour are the snakes?
• Green
• What is your favourite thing about the zoo?
• The monkeys
• What do the monkeys like to eat?
• bananas
• What do you like to eat when we go to the zoo?
  
• Ice-cream

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• The conversation continues until all the items
  on the sheet have been included. The then teacher
  
• re-verbalises the conversation.
• When we go to the zoo we see lions and tigers.
  The tigers have stripes on their fur. We see
  snakes. Some of them are green. We see monkeys
  too. They like to eat bananas. We like to eat
  ice-cream at the zoo.

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• The child is then allowed to practice
  reverbalising the topic using the sheet as a
  prompt.
• Once this becomes fluent, practice the
  conversation without the sheet.
• As the child becomes more fluent, the range of
  topics can be increased.
• Eventually the picture prompts can be faded

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Workshop activity

• Pair up with a partner and use the topical
  conversation sheet and visuals to role play
  teaching conversation with your learner.
• Move through teaching each item to be talked
  about, to asking wh. Questions
• Practice the conversation with your learner
  without the sheet once it becomes fluent.

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• To expand skills by teaching the child to start
  and maintain the conversation, use a combination
  of the activity sheet and question cue cards. The
  prerequisite skills include being able to use the
  topical conversation activity sheet and reading
  skills.
• Teacher begins by saying ask me about my day
• Child what did you do today?Teacher
  (chooses an activity the child finds reinforcing)
  I went to the beach

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• Topic
• The beach
• 1) the sea
• 2) sand castles
• 3) picnic
• 4) lemonade

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What did you do today ?
What did you see?
What did you hear?
Who did you play with?
What did you eat?
What did you drink?
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• Child (using a question card) what did you do?
• Teacher I made a sandcastle
• Child (using card) What did you see?
• Teacher I saw people swimming
• Child (using card) What did you eat
• Teacher I ate a sandwich
• Child (using card) What did you drink
• Teacher I drank orange juice

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Workshop Activity

• Role play teaching a topical conversation with
  your learner, using the question cards