Teaching intraverbal behavior to severely retarded children

Area of Science:

• Behavior Analysis
• Developmental Psychology
• Special Education

Background:

• Intraverbal behavior, a core component of language, involves responding to verbal stimuli.
• Understanding the acquisition and independence of intraverbal and tact skills is crucial for effective language intervention.
• Previous research has explored various prompting strategies for teaching verbal repertoires.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate teaching procedures for single and multiple intraverbal responses.
• To assess the functional independence between intraverbal and tact verbal behavior.
• To examine the transfer of stimulus control using delayed echoic prompting.

Main Methods:

• Employed a delayed echoic prompting procedure to teach intraverbal responses.
• Utilized interspersed probes to measure the emergence of untrained intraverbals.
• Assessed the transfer of response topographies to tact conditions using visual stimuli post-training.

Main Results:

• Specialized training is required for the acquisition of intraverbal responding in individuals with intellectual disabilities.
• The study provides initial support for the functional independence of intraverbals and tacts at the point of acquisition.
• Delayed echoic prompting facilitated the assessment of transfer of stimulus control.

Conclusions:

• Targeted intraverbal training is essential for individuals with intellectual disabilities.
• Intraverbal and tact repertoires appear to be functionally independent early in their acquisition.
• Further research is warranted to explore the relationship between different verbal operants.