Evaluation of a Treatment Package for Chronic, Stereotypic Hand Mouthing of a Child Diagnosed with Autism.

Unlabelled: We describe the clinical treatment of repetitive, stereotypic hand mouthing in a 7-year old child with severe developmental delay, conducted in the context of center-based autism service. The client's history included use of mechanical restraint to prevent tissue damage and infection. Prior antecedent- and reinforcement-based interventions were ineffective.

Effects of instructed visual imagining on emergent conditional discriminations.

Visual imagining has been proposed to play a role in the emergence of derived stimulus relations. We examined whether test-relevant visual imagining during baseline training would, accordingly, facilitate emergent visual-visual conditional discriminations at test. Adult participants (n = 75) were randomly assigned to three groups.

Explaining First Language Acquisition in Terms of Basic Behavioral Processes: Introduction to the Special Section.

This special section of follows up on a virtual panel discussion on the role of operant and Pavlovian processes in children's language learning. We present four articles, including two contributed by panelists, that illustrate the explanatory power of operant conditioning processes in the study of language.

Revisiting Topography-Based and Selection-Based Verbal Behavior.

In topography-based verbal behavior, different antecedent stimuli control different topographies of responding, whereas in selection-based verbal behavior, different antecedent stimuli control the selection of visually distinct stimuli from an array of options. In this article, we point out three variable characteristics of selection-based behavior, highlighted by recent technological developments, that affect its similarity to topography-based behavior: The extent to which stimuli can be constructed from minimal units, the size and composition of the selection array, and the similarity of response-produced stimuli to verbal stimuli that are prevalent in the speaker's verbal community. Although a distinction between topography-based and selection-based behavior has merit, particular characteristics of a selection-based verbal behavior modality may often be more relevant for researchers and clinicians to consider than its status as selection-based.

Training sequence effects on emergent conditional discriminations: Replication and extension to selection-based training.

We examined the replicability and generality of a previously reported training sequence effect on emergent conditional discriminations in the intraverbal naming task. In Experiment 1, a tact-intraverbal (TI) group learned first to vocally label 6 visual patterns and then to intraverbally relate pairs of verbal labels, whereas an intraverbal-tact (IT) group received the same training in the opposite sequence. Emergent conditional discriminations among pattern stimuli were assessed in match-to-sample (MTS) format.

Emergent Tact Control Following Stimulus Pairing: Comparison of Procedural Variations.

We examined emergent tact control following stimulus pairing, using 2 different stimulus presentation arrangements. In the word-first condition, presentation of the auditory stimulus preceded the visual stimulus, and in the image-first condition, the visual stimulus preceded the auditory stimulus. Eight children (2-5 years old) participated.

Translational evaluation of training structures in equivalence-based instruction.

We used a laboratory preparation to evaluate the claim that equivalence-based instruction (EBI) is an efficient form of instruction due to eliminating the need for emergent relations to be taught. Three groups of college students received training to establish 3 stimulus classes with 4 members in each class. Two groups received either a linear series (EBI-LS) or a 1-to-many training structure (EBI-OTM group).

Efficiency of equivalence-based instruction: A laboratory evaluation.

In equivalence-based instruction (EBI), a large number of stimulus relations can be established through direct instruction of a smaller number of strategically selected relations. We evaluated the efficiency and other potential benefits of EBI in 2 between-subjects experiments with college students that compared EBI with complete instruction (CI). In Experiment 1 (n = 50), mastery criteria in both conditions required an equal number of equally sized trial blocks at equal accuracy.

Baseline training sequence affects speed of emergent conditional discriminations.

We examined the effects of baseline training sequence on the emergence of conditional discriminations in an intraverbal naming task. Thirty-two college students were randomly assigned to two groups. The tact-intraverbal (TI) group first learned to vocally tact eight visual stimuli using a unique verbal label for each stimulus, and then to intraverbally relate four pairs of verbal labels.

Applying the Taxonomy of Validity Threats from Mainstream Research Design to Single-Case Experiments in Applied Behavior Analysis.

Mainstream research design in the social and behavioral sciences has often been conceptualized using a taxonomy of threats to experimental validity first articulated by Campbell and his colleagues (Campbell & Stanley, 1966; Cook & Campbell, 1979). The most recent update of this framework was published by Shadish, Cook, and Campbell (2002), in which the authors describe different types of validity and numerous threats to each primarily in terms of group-design experiments. In the present article, we apply Shadish et al.

Stimulus presentation order in receptive identification tasks: A systematic replication.

Conflicting recommendations exist in the literature regarding the optimal order of stimulus presentation when teaching auditory-visual conditional discriminations. The present study examined the generality of a previously demonstrated advantage of presenting the auditory sample before visual comparisons (sample-first condition) over the reverse sequence (comparison-first condition). Participants were four typically developing 5- and 6-year-old boys.

The impact of on the scholarly literature from 2005 to 2016.

B. F. Skinner's (1957) had a limited influence on empirical research in the first few decades following its publication, but an increase in empirical activity has been evident in recent years.

Effects of response-contingent stimulus pairing on vocalizations of nonverbal children with autism.

Research on stimulus-stimulus pairing to induce novel vocalizations in nonverbal children has typically employed response-independent pairing (RIP) procedures to condition speech sounds as reinforcers. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effects of a response-contingent pairing (RCP) procedure on the vocalizations of three nonverbal boys diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. During RCP, adult-delivered sounds that were either paired with a preferred item (target sounds) or not (nontarget sounds) were presented contingent on a button-press response.

Inducing Novel Vocalizations by Conditioning Speech Sounds as Reinforcers.

Automatic reinforcement by response-produced auditory stimuli has long been hypothesized to play a role in the vocal development of infants. Clinicians and researchers have translated this idea into stimulus pairing interventions intended to increase novel vocalizations of nonverbal children with autism and other developmental disabilities by conditioning speech sounds as reinforcers. A number of studies have demonstrated positive effects of stimulus pairing procedures, but negative results have also been reported in the literature.

Emergence of Intraverbal Responding Following Tact Instruction with Compound Stimuli.

Effective intraverbal responding often requires control by multiple elements of a verbal stimulus. The purpose of this study was to examine the emergence of such intraverbal relations following tact instruction with compound stimuli and to analyze any resulting error patterns. Participants were seven typically developing children between 3 and 5 years of age.

Application of a lag contingency to reduce perseveration on circumscribed interests.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of a lag reinforcement contingency on the conversation topics of children diagnosed with autism who perseverated on circumscribed interests (CIs).

Method: Single-case design study with two participants, age 11 and 12 years. A functional analysis employed an alternating-treatments design to assess effects of contingent attention on conversational behavior.

Intraverbal naming and equivalence class formation in children.

Six typically developing children between 5 and 7 years of age underwent match-to-sample training to establish three-member equivalence classes after first acquiring a unique name for each stimulus. Horne and Lowe's (1996) naming hypothesis predicts that under those circumstances, match-to-sample training contingencies may establish intraverbal relations between the unique names, which in turn guide correct responses on a subsequent test for stimulus equivalence. Following training of baseline relations (AB and AC), participants received an equivalence test followed by an intraverbal test.

Order of stimulus presentation influences children's acquisition in receptive identification tasks.

Receptive identification is usually taught in matching-to-sample format, which entails the presentation of an auditory sample stimulus and several visual comparison stimuli in each trial. Conflicting recommendations exist regarding the order of stimulus presentation in matching-to-sample trials. The purpose of this study was to compare acquisition in receptive identification tasks under 2 conditions: when the sample was presented before the comparisons (sample first) and when the comparisons were presented before the sample (comparison first).

The Functional Independence of Mands and Tacts: Has It Been Demonstrated Empirically?

Recently, there has been a proliferation of research on the functional independence of two of Skinner's (1957) verbal operants, the mand, and the tact. This research has produced highly variable results. In this article, we provide a critical review of the literature on mand-tact independence, a literature that has implications for both theory and practice.

Emergence of visual-visual conditional discriminations.

We assessed the emergence of visual-visual conditional discriminations following training of vocal tact and intraverbal relations. Ten preschool-age children learned to vocally tact six visual stimuli, A1 through B3. Next, they learned to respond intraverbally to the dictated names of A1, A2, and A3 by vocalizing the names of B1, B2, and B3, respectively.

Effects of operant discrimination training on the vocalizations of nonverbal children with autism.

We evaluated the effects of operant discrimination training (ODT) on the vocalizations of 3 boys with autism. We compared ODT to a stimulus-stimulus pairing (SSP) condition and a control condition in an adapted alternating-treatments design. ODT increased the target vocalizations of all participants compared to the control condition, and its effects were similar to SSP.