Joe Reichle

Spontaneous transfer of stimulus control from tact to mand contingencies

An important issue in teaching verbal behavior to persons with severe handicaps is the transfer of stimulus control from tact (e.g., naming) to mand (e.g., requesting) relationships. Previous research has shown that topographies taught as tacts frequently fail to appear as mands unless transfer between these two response classes is explicitly programmed. Procedures promoting this transfer would provide a necessary instructional tool. Transfer from tact to mand contingencies was investigated in two adults with severe mental retardation. Correct pointing responses to line drawing symbols depicting the utensils required to access previously requested food (beverage) items were assessed prior to and following tact intervention. Mands for two of three utensils emerged following tact intervention. The results suggest transfer from tact variables to the conditioned establishing operation may be facilitated by the prior development of a minimal mand repertoire.

The Selection of an Augmentative System in Communication Intervention: A Critique of Decision Rules.

Sets of augmentative decision rules used to determine a learners candidacy for an augmentative communication system were reviewed and critiqued. Particular scrutiny was given to criteria addressing certain cognitive acquisitions and the identification of a significant communication deficit(s) as prerequisites to system implementation. A case is presented to support the use of an augmentative communication system as a preventive treatment and a potential facilitator of language comprehension skills. An alternative approach to traditional decision rules that involves the implementation of procedures that allow the simultaneous scrutiny of graphic (communication board), gestural (sign), and vocal communicative modes is proposed.

Communication Board Use in Severely Handicapped Learners.

Four severely retarded preschool children were taught to label four objects using a manual, direct select communication board. After acquisition, learners failed to generalize to either commenting ...

Teaching the Use of a Multipage Direct Selection Communication Board to an Adult with Autism.

A 23-year-old adult with autism was taught to use a portable multipage direct select communication device. Prior to training, the learner had been reported to use several sign approximations perseveratively and out of context. Training procedures involved teaching the use of a generalized request symbol, a variety of object labels, a sequential searching strategy to locate the symbol(s) required to communicate a message, and the use of two-symbol requests. The learner requested and provided information during elicited generalization probes. He frequently was observed to request spontaneously but rarely self-initiated comments. A discussion of implications for future attempts to train the discriminative use of pragmatic language functions is included.

Establishing Pragmatic Discriminations among the Communicative Functions of Requesting, Rejecting, and Commenting in an Adolescent.

A 15-year-old learner with severe handicaps who exhibited minimal intentional communicative behavior was taught to discriminately encode three classes of communicative functions, including requesting, rejecting, and commenting. A single symbol (want) represented the requesting function, and another symbol (no) represented the rejecting function. Four signs from American Sign Language represented each of four object labels taught in the commenting function. Communicative functions were taught in a mixed sequential paradigm (requesting, requesting/rejecting, and requesting/rejecting/commenting). Elicited probes were administered after each acquisition criterion was reached to assess generalization across communicative situations. Results suggest that a series of pragmatic discriminations can be established early in a sequence of communicative intervention. Further, the learner used requesting and rejecting spontaneously in other classroom environments. Results are discussed in terms of content, selection, and sequencing in communication intervention programs designed for learners with severe handicaps.

The Match between Reinforcer Class and Response Class: Its Influence on Communication Intervention Strategies.

Reinforcement principles applied to language intervention have attended primarily to the “power” of the reinforcer selected rather than the match between the reinforcer and topography of the behavior being taught. Stokes and Baer (1977) emphasized the use of natural maintaining contingencies. This emphasis has resulted in a number of investigations that have attempted to discern the effect(s) that the functional relationship between stimulus and reinforcer might have upon the acquisition of language comprehension and production skills. This article reviews this literature, offers methodological considerations in the selection of reinforcer/response relations, and discusses the possible effect that such reinforcement strategies have on learning to comprehend language as well as learning to produce language to both request and provide information.

Establishing Communicative Alternatives to the Emission of Socially Motivated Excess Behavior: A Review

This article discusses literature related to the use of communication intervention for reducing excess behavior in persons with severe disabilities and speculates upon unresolved issues in research and intervention. Operant conditioning and pragmatics are discussed in terms of their joint application to excess behavior. The intervention literature is reviewed, and a comprehensive list of possible pragmatic intents of excess behavior is developed. Finally, recommendations regarding important lines of research and intervention are presented.

Effects of selection techniques and array sizes on short-term visual memory

The present research examined the effects of message selection techniques and array sizes on short-term visual memory. Specifically, this study investigated whether there are short-term visual memory differences between direct selection and the row-column scanning in normally developing 4-year-old children. Results suggested a significant difference in favor of direct selection over scanning for the array with 40 symbols. The other purpose of this investigation was to determine whether differences existed as a function of the number of symbols available on the communication aid. The effect of array size upon memory did reveal a significant difference between the array with 30 symbols and the array with 40 symbols.

Teaching an individual with severe intellectual delay to request assistance conditionally

The purpose of this study was to evaluate intervention procedures to teach conditional use of a communicative request for assistance and independent task performance. A 40‐year‐old man with autism and severe mental retardation with a history of escape‐related problems was taught to use a graphic symbol to request assistance and to engage independently in a vocational assembly task. A multiple‐probe design across each of three components of the assembly task was executed to evaluate the effect of teaching requesting assistance and followed by independent task completion. Dependent measures included requests for assistance and independent task completion. Intervention was associated with initial acquisition of requests for assistance. As the participant became increasingly independent in completing the task, production of requests for assistance correspondingly diminished. A post‐hoc analysis revealed that the speed with which independent task completion occurred was substantially faster than when assistance was required. The implementation of the two independent variables was successful as the participant learned to moderate his use of requests for assistance. A discussion of competing schedules of reinforcement is offered as the explanation for this outcome.

Comparing explicit to generalized requesting in an augmentative communication mode

The present study compared explicit to more generalized requesting strategies. Four adults with multiple disabilities were taught to request preferred objects by pointing to line drawings. Explicit requests were followed by access to a single specific item. Generalized requests were followed by access to any one of three related items. Percent of correct explicit and generalized requests were compared across sets of objects in a multiple-probe, single-subject design. Correct requests increased as a function of intervention, with little consistent advantage for one type of requesting strategy over the other. Analysis of error patterns suggested that while learners acquired reliable discriminations among the graphic symbols across object sets, establishing the conditional discriminations within each set proved difficult. Ecological factors for the selection of a requesting strategy and the sequencing of intervention are discussed.