Evaluation of a Vocal Mand Assessment and Vocal Mand Training Procedures

Abstract

A common deficiency in the verbal repertoires of individuals with autism and related disorders is the absence of socially appropriate vocal mands. The vocal mand repertoires of these individuals may be lacking in several respects: (a) The individual might engage in no mands whatsoever, (b) the mand might be topographically dissimilar to an appropriate response, (c) the mand might be only partially topographically similar to an appropriate response, and (d) the mand might occur only after prompting. Depending on specific deficiencies in an individual's repertoire, different procedures for establishing appropriate mands may be needed. The purpose of Study 1was to evaluate an assessment prior to teaching vocal mands for 3 individuals with developmental disabilities. The assessment showed that 1 individual displayed partial utterances of mands, 1 displayed vocal mands after mands had been reinforced, and 1 displayed vocal mands when prompted. Thus, in Study 2, a different teaching strategy was tested for each individual. Results showed that the assessment information could be linked directly to mand training for all 3 participants.

Manipulating Establishing Operations to Verify and Establish Stimulus Control During Mand Training

“…The participant was taught to request an item using a picture card and was taught to request a second item by saying the word corresponding to the item (e.g., saying ''chips''). Millie was taught to respond vocally by first presenting a vocal prompt (e.g., ''say 'chips''') and delivering the reinforcer (chips) following the imitative response (''chips''), and prompts were gradually faded (Bourret, Vollmer, & Rapp, 2004). During the vocal manding sessions, Millie was seated at a table and no cards were present.…”

The effect of behavioral skills training with general‐case training on staff chaining of child vocalizations within natural language paradigm

“…Despite recommendations to shape vocal behavior within NLP (CharlopChristy et al 1999), few studies have done so. Bourret, Vollmer, and Rapp (2004), however, implemented a forward chaining procedure to increase vocal mands for a radio in one individual with autism. Once the participant emitted the first verbal approximation ('t'), they taught the second successive approximation ('tu') and finally the complete response chain ('tunes') using prompting and fading.…”

Acquisition of Mands and Tacts With Concurrent Echoic Training

“…Bourret, Vollmer, and Rapp (2004) evaluated the utility of an assessment to prescribe effective mand training based on specific patterns of participant responding during the assessment. For example, 1 participant displayed vocal mands only when prompted by the therapist, and treatment involved prompt fading.…”