An evaluation of strategies to maintain mands at practical levels

In order to teach individuals with developmental disabilities to request stimuli they are motivated to obtain (mand), it is often necessary to initially deliver the item requested immediately and frequently. This may result in an undesirably high rate of mands that is impractical to maintain. The purpose of the current investigation was to extend the findings of previous research on the maintenance of low-rate mands within a communication-training context for children diagnosed with autism by evaluating the efficacy of two procedures: (1) signaled delay-to-reinforcement and (2) multiple schedules. The results of our evaluation of multiple schedules replicated those of previous research; this arrangement was found for all participants to be effective in maintaining mands at low rates under multiple schedules with a 270-s extinction component and 30-s reinforcement component. For all participants, signaled delay-to-reinforcement was ineffective in maintaining mands at the terminal criterion, a 270-s delay.