Mands for Information Generalize Across Establishing Operations

Abstract

The current study extends the literature on teaching mands for information by assessing whether mands generalize across different establishing operations (EOs). Three children with autism were taught to perform multiple behavior chains, 3 of which included a common response (e.g., "Where is the spoon?") used for different purposes. An interrupted-behavior-chain procedure was used to contrive the EO for each mand. After teaching a mand for information under 1 EO, the remaining chains were interrupted to determine whether the mand had generalized to different EOs. For all participants, mands for information generalized across EOs. For 2 participants, a new mand-for-information topography emerged after training.

Teaching individuals with autism spectrum disorder to ask questions: A systematic review

“…What questions were taught in 48% of studies (n = 10), making them the most common dependent variable (e.g., Hung, 1977;Koegel et al, 2003;Marion et al, 2011;Taylor & Harris, 1995). Where questions comprised 29% of reviewed studies (n = 6) (e.g., Endicott & Higbee, 2007;Koegel et al, 2010;Lechago, Carr, & Grow, 2010).…”

“…Both where and who questions were targeted in 14% of the reviewed studies (n = 3) using two separate experiments. Specifically, after participants acquired the where question during the first experiment, a second experiment was conducted in which the who question was taught (Endicott & Higbee, 2007;Lechago et al, 2010;Sundberg, Loeb, Hale, & Eigenheer, 2002). was the only study included in this review that involved instruction on four different whquestions: who, which, where, and when.…”

“…An interrupted behavior chain procedure was used in 10% of studies (n = 2) (Betz et al, 2010;Lechago et al, 2010). Participants were taught to ask where or who questions during a multi-step behavioral sequence (chain) with one critical stimulus missing.…”

Teaching Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders to Mand for the Removal of Stimuli That Prevent Access to Preferred Items

“…Julian's parent also reported use of the mand in the home environment in the correct context. Though future research should specifically examine generalized use and maintenance, these informal observations suggest that ensuring the mand is taught under appropriate EO conditions may aid in generalization of the skill to functionally similar EO conditions (see Lechago, Carr, Grow, Love, & Almason, 2010). …”

The Establishing Operation and Teaching Verbal Behavior

“…The ambiguity of the instructor's response momentarily increased the value of a specific teacher's name as a reinforcer and established the conditions necessary to teach the mand ''who.'' Using a similar interrupted chain procedure, additional researchers have used Michael's (1993) concept of the CEO-T to teach mands for information with preschool children and children with autism (Endicott & Higbee, 2007;Shillingsburg & Valentino, 2011), assess the transfer of mands across EOs (Lechago, Carr, Grow, Love, & Almason, 2010) and settings (Betz, Higbee, & Pollard, 2010), establish derived manding skills for adults with developmental disabilities (Rosales & Rehfeldt, 2007), and test for transfer across verbal operant categories following manual sign and PECS training (Ziomek & Rehfeldt, 2008).…”