Manipulating establishing operations to verify and establish stimulus control during mand training

Area of Science:

• Behavioral Psychology
• Developmental Disabilities Intervention
• Applied Behavior Analysis

Background:

• Acquiring verbal behavior is crucial for children with developmental disabilities.
• Functional discriminated mands are a key target in behavioral interventions.
• Establishing operations (EOs) are powerful motivators influencing behavior.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of manipulating an establishing operation (EO) for functional discriminated mands.
• To assess if discrimination training with picture cards is sufficient for establishing discriminated manding.
• To determine the utility of EO manipulation as an assessment and training tool.

Main Methods:

• Four individuals with developmental disabilities participated in a training program.
• Participants were taught to make mands for preferred items using picture cards.
• An establishing operation (EO) was manipulated by providing free access to one item while motivating for another.

Main Results:

• Three out of four participants acquired discriminated manding using similar picture card responses.
• One participant required topographically distinct mands (vocal and picture card) to acquire discriminated manding.
• EO manipulation effectively assessed and established discriminated manding.

Conclusions:

• Discrimination training using only picture cards may not suffice for all children with developmental disabilities.
• Manipulation of establishing operations is a viable assessment and training strategy for discriminated manding.
• Tailoring mand topography (e.g., vocal) may be necessary for some individuals.