An Evaluation of Conditional Manding Using a Four-Component Multiple Schedule.

Area of Science:

• Behavior Analysis
• Developmental Psychology
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Current autism spectrum disorder (ASD) verbal behavior curricula often teach multiple mands early on.
• Few curricula train children with ASD to make context-appropriate requests and avoid inappropriate ones.

Observation:

• A single participant with ASD was taught two initial mands.
• These mands were then placed under the conditional discriminative control of a four-component multiple schedule.

Findings:

• The participant learned to differentially mand for reinforcers based on the schedule components.
• This demonstrates successful implementation of conditional discrimination in mand training for a child with ASD.

Implications:

• This approach may enhance the functional communication skills of children with ASD.
• Bringing mands under discriminative control can lead to more appropriate and context-specific requesting behaviors.