Analysis Of Verbal Behavior Research Articles

The Hefferline Notes: B. F. Skinner’s First Public Exposition of His Analysis of Verbal Behavior

B. F. Skinner's first public exposition of his analysis of verbal behavior was the Hefferline Notes (1947a), a written summary of a course Skinner taught at Columbia University during the summer of 1947 just prior to his presentation of the William James Lectures at Harvard University in the fall. The Notes are significant because they display Skinner's analysis as it made the transition from spoken to written form; moreover, they are an effective supplemental source of examples and early approximations for comprehending Skinner's functional verbal operants.

A quarter century of the analysis of verbal behavior: an analysis of impact.

The Analysis of Verbal Behavior (TAVB) has been published since 1982, and during this time, interest in verbal behavior research appears to have increased substantially within behavior analysis. The purpose of the present analysis was to assess the influence of TAVB on the field by (a) counting citations of TAVB articles in the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (JEAB) and the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA) from 1983 through 2007, (b) examining which other journals cite TAVB, and (c) calculating impact-factor estimates for 2003 through 2007. Citations of TAVB articles began to appear in JEAB and JABA in the late 1980s to early 1990s, and by the end of 2007, almost a third of all articles published in TAVB had been cited in either JEAB or JABA. Other journals that cite TAVB include The Behavior Analyst and The Psychological Record. The estimated impact factor ranged from 0.267 to 0.600. Strategies for increasing the impact of TAVB are discussed.

A behavior-analytic account of motivational interviewing

Several published reports have now documented the clinical effectiveness of motivational interviewing (MI). Despite its effectiveness, there are no generally accepted or empirically supported theoretical accounts of its effects. The theoretical accounts that do exist are mentalistic, descriptive, and not based on empirically derived behavioral principles. Empirical research is being generated regarding the role of client and therapist verbal behavior in MI. Client and therapist speech in MI sessions has been correlated with subsequent client behavior change (Amrhein, Miller, Yahne, & Fulcher, 2003; Gaume, Gmel, & Daeppen, 2008; Moyers et al., 2007). Although provocative, these findings are correlational and no theory has yet been provided to explain them. The purposes of the present paper are (a) to bring MI to the attention of clinical behavior analysts; (b) to provide a conceptual account of MI that relies on recent developments in the behavior analysis of motivation and verbal behavior, especially stimulus equivalence and transformation of functions; (c) to provide a possible answer to two critical questions: "How does MI evoke client in-session talk abut behavior change?" and "Why is this change talk related to outcomes?"; and (d) to use this account to identify important research questions and perhaps enhance MI's effectiveness.

Analysis of the therapist's verbal behavior during cognitive restructuring debates: A case study

This paper reports a case study in which the authors analyze the application of the debate technique in cognitive restructuring so as to obtain a deeper understanding of the relevant behavioral processes. The authors examined the recordings of a clinical case of low mood disorder and selected five debates that dealt with the same problem. After their transcription, the authors analyzed the client–therapist verbal interaction. Results show changes in the verbalizations of both parties as the treatment progresses. The authors propose a new explanation of these changes, constituting a step forward in the theoretical explanation of the debate technique within the cognitive–behavioral approach.

Introduction: 2008 state of the science lectures

From its inception and through to the present day, progress in all areas of behavior analysis has been fueled by advances in basic science. With the successful application of behavioral principles to an ever-widening array of practical problems, however, the science behind the application is sometimes overlooked. To underscore the vital importance of science to our discipline, a special track of the 2008 annual convention of the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI) was created to highlight and amplify the good science that has and continues to infuse the various branches of behavior analysis. The keynote event in this track was a session that brought together luminaries in the field to give state of the science lectures—presentations that traced the development of key ideas and concepts in a specific area of research and theory. Each of the speakers graciously agreed to prepare a manuscript based on his ABAI lecture. The result is the following series of papers. The authors have each made pioneering and enduring contributions to our science; at the same time, each remains active and well positioned to comment on key developments for the future. Edmund Fantino's paper traces the concept of conditioned reinforcement from its early days as a mediating or bridging stimulus through to more contemporary accounts based on temporal context and reinforcement value. As Fantino's stimulating paper shows, conditioned reinforcement is a ubiquitous phenomenon and remains a fundamental concept in the analysis of behavior. Tony Nevin's paper addresses the problem of privacy, a much-discussed but poorly understood phenomenon, in light of contemporary research and theory in conditional stimulus control. Bringing sophisticated quantitative techniques to bear on the problem, Nevin illustrates how private events can be brought within reach of an experimental analysis. Murray Sidman's paper reflects on the broad topic of stimulus control, identifying conceptual threads running through the literature. Sidman's astute observations regarding behavioral units and the fundamental importance of class and relational concepts show how behavior-analytic principles apply to an ever-widening array of complex phenomena. Travis Thompson's paper outlines a behavioral account of self-awareness that combines a sophisticated analysis of verbal behavior with contemporary work in behavioral neuroscience. The paper touches on an impressive range of topics, from brain imaging to skills deficits in children with autism, and serves to illustrate some ways in which behavior analysis may contribute to cutting-edge interdisciplinary science. Together, the papers reflect well on the current state of our science, providing interesting perspectives on the historical roots, as well as the future directions, of important scientific problems.

A Functional Analysis of Non-Vocal Verbal Behavior of a Young Child With Autism

The functions of an American Sign Language response were experimentally evaluated with a young boy diagnosed with autism. A functional analysis procedure based on that reported by Lerman et al. (2005) was used to evaluate whether the target sign response would occur under mand, tact, mimetic, or control conditions. The target sign was observed most often in the mand and mimetic test conditions, very seldom in the tact test condition, and never in the control condition. These results support those reported by Lerman et al. and extend previous research by evaluating a non-vocal verbal response using a brief multi-element arrangement with a single control condition. The implications for language assessment and suggestions for future research are discussed.

A Behavioral Conceptualization of Aphasia

Aphasia is an acquired language impairment that affects over 1 million individuals, the majority of whom are over age 65 (Groher, 1989). This disorder has typically been conceptualized within a cognitive neuroscience framework, but a behavioral interpretation of aphasia is also possible. Skinner's (1957) analysis of verbal behavior proposes a framework of verbal operants that can be integrated with the work of Sidman (1971) and Haughton (1980) to describe the language difficulties individuals with aphasia experience. Using this synthesis of models, we propose a new taxonomy of aphasia based on the observed deficit relations. Assessment and treatment implications are also discussed.

Review of Verbal behavior analysis: Inducing and expanding new verbal capabilities in children with language delays.

Greer &. Ross (2007): Verbal Behavior Analysis: Inducing and Expanding New Verbal Capabilities in Children with Language Delays Language impairments affect 7% of preschool children (Ziegler, 2005). Some of these children will catch up to their peers, but many will continue to have problems at school age. For example, Paul (2000) found that 16% of children with expressive language delays at age 2 continued to present with language impairments at the age of 7. Additionally there is evidence that early problems with oral language are related to later problems with the development of literacy skills (Bartlett, et al., 2002). Moreover, when language impairments accompany developmental disabilities (e.g., autism, mental retardation), they are likely to remain a life-long challenge. Professionals from a variety of disciplines have developed approaches to language intervention over the past 80 years (Paul, 2007). Within that context, behavioral approaches have emerged among the most effective, especially for teaching children with autism and related disabilities (Goldstein & Hockenberry, 1991). Traditionally, behavioral approaches emphasized modeling, imitation, systematic prompting, differential reinforcement and discrete trial instruction as a primary instructional format (e.g., Lovaas, 1981). However, more recently the behavioral framework has been expanded to include an emphasis on functional analysis and especially Skinner's (1957) functional analysis of verbal behavior. Additionally, natural environmental teaching (NET) strategies (e.g., incidental teaching, mand-model) were added to the repertoire of important instructional formats, and a review of recent studies supports the effectiveness of these formats (Petersen, 2006 for children with language delays. Skinner (1957) originally developed the verbal behavior model to account for the continuity between operant behavior and language. Others are responsible for applying the model to language instruction (e.g., Sundberg & Partington, 1998; Greer & Ross, 2007). These applications have gradually come to be known as the verbal behavior (VB) approach. Carr and Firth (2005) recently reviewed the published literature on VB practices and pointed to the need for additional research. We believe that his call for research has been addressed in part by Greer and Ross's (2007) book: Verbal Behavior Analysis: Inducing and Expanding New Verbal Capabilities in Children with Language Delays. This book represents the culmination of considerable research, practice, and critical thinking by a Greer and his colleagues (e.g., Greer & Keohane, 2006; Greer, Keohane, & Healy, 2002; Tsai, & Greer, 2006). It addresses many interesting and important questions about the verbal behavior approach, and it offers an evidence-based framework for best practices in behavioral language intervention, including detailed information about assessment, instructional strategies, and procedures for evaluating treatment efficacy. It is highly engaging and conveys complex theoretical information in a clear and reader-friendly style. It is an excellent source of information for students planning a career in communicative disorders, for behavior analysts who wish to enhance their understanding of Skinner's verbal behavior framework, for parents of children with communicative disorders, and for professionals in the fields of developmental disabilities and early intervention. An important feature of this book is that it includes an empirical account of verbal behavior development, and it t may be the first comprehensive account of language development that incorporates Skinner's (1957) verbal behavior model. It describes a developmental trajectory marked by developmental cusps (Rosales-Ruiz & Baer, 1966; Bosh & Hixson, 2004). In some linguistic and cognitive accounts of language development, stages of language growth have been attributed to neurological factors such as a language acquisition device (e. …

Meaning in behavioral analysis.

Introduction Understood variably, meaning is one of the most exalted concepts in human thought, writing, and discourse. Human life itself is discussed in terms of its meaning. Philosophy--one of the highest forms of intellectual enquiry--is defined as an enquiry into the nature and meaning of life and the universe. We question or try to understand the meaning of individuals' actions, government policies, scientific data or theories, philosophical or everyday concepts, a happy or a tragic incidence, or anything that is encountered in life. But it is the meaning of meaning in language that has drawn the greatest intellectual resources from philosophers, linguists, psychologists, poets, literary critics, thinkers in general, and philologists who preceded modern linguists. Speech-language pathologists have both a theoretical and applied interest in meaning because it permeates almost all of their clinical work. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) have successfully used applied behavioral techniques in their clinical work. Such applied behavioral techniques as modeling, prompting, shaping, positive reinforcement, differential reinforcement, extinction, time-out, response cost, corrective feedback, among others, are the evidence-based treatment procedures the SLPs use in modifying disorders of speech, language, fluency, voice, and swallowing (Hegde, 1998). Behavioral treatment procedures have been extensively researched and their effects experimentally documented in remediating communication disorders in both children and adults (Duffy, 2005; Hegde, 1998; Hegde & Maul, 2006; Pena-Brooks & Hegde, 2007; Rosenbek, LaPointe, & Wertz, 1989). Although the behavioral treatment techniques used in speech and language training are based on Skinner's experimenta1 analysis of behavior (Skinner, 1953) and the resulting operant conditioning techniques, academic training of SLPs do not seem to include the behavioral (operant) view of verbal behavior to any significant extent (See Table 1). Consequently, SLPs' understanding of speech and language as empirical phenomena on the one hand and of speech and language as targets of treatment on the other are conceptually and methodologically inconsistent. Experimentally validated behavioral treatment procedures are typically grafted on to conceptually inconsistent linguistic, mentalistic, and rationalistic theories that are incapable of experimental verification. Perhaps it is believed that the behavioral approach may be good for treatment, but not for understanding what language is and how it is learned. Child language treatment research does not support this belief, however. Consistent with Skinner's assertion that linguistic (structural) categories do not correspond to functional response classes, some treatment research studies have shown that grammatical categories and distinctions prove themselves invalid when experimental manipulations are done to treat children's language disorders. Even such basic grammatical-structural distinctions as verbal auxiliary copula and subject noun-object noun do not hold good under experimental manipulations inherent to treatment (Hegde, 1980; Hegde, & McConn, 1978; Hegde, Noll, & Pecora, 1979; McReynolds & Engmann, 1974). Furthermore, it is possible to entertain a conceptually consistent model of verbal behavior (language) and its teaching, but this possibility is realized only with an appreciation of the view that language is behavior. Contrary to what mentalistic linguists argue, the behavioral ana lysis offers a sophisticated and natural science-based analysis of all aspects of language, including what is believed to be the linguist's monopoly--grammar (Skinner, 1957). In this paper, I address not grammar, but meaning, which linguists believe is the stuff the language is made of and lies beyond behavioral explanation. To understand the behavioral analysis of meaning, it is essential to understand the Skinnerian analysis of verbal behavior. …

The influence of Bloomfield’s linguistics on Skinner

Bloomfield's "Linguistics as a Science" (1930/1970), Language (1933/1961), and "Language or Ideas?" (1936a/1970), and Skinner's Verbal Behavior (1957) and Science and Human Behavior (1953) were analyzed in regard to their respective perspectives on science and scientific method, the verbal episode, meaning, and subject matter. Similarities between the two authors were found. In particular both asserted that (a) the study of language must be carried out through the methods of science; (b) the main function of language is to produce practical effects on the world through the mediation of a listener; and (c) a physicalist conception of meaning. Their differences concern the subject matter of their disciplines and their use of different models for the analysis of behavior. Bloomfield's linguistics and Skinner's functional analysis of verbal behavior are complementary approaches to language.

Further evaluation of emerging speech in children with developmental disabilities: training verbal behavior.

The conceptual basis for many effective language-training programs are based on Skinner's (1957) analysis of verbal behavior. Skinner described several elementary verbal operants including mands, tacts, intraverbals, and echoics. According to Skinner, responses that are the same topography may actually be functionally independent. Previous research has supported Skinner's assertion of functional independence (e.g., Hall & Sundberg, 1987; Lamarre & Holland, 1985), and some research has suggested that specific programming must be incorporated to achieve generalization across verbal operants (e.g., Sigafoos, Reichle, & Doss, 1990). The present study provides further analysis of the independence of verbal operants when teaching language to children with autism and other developmental disabilities. In the current study, 3 participants' vocal responses were first assessed as mands or tacts. Generalization for each verbal operant across alternate conditions was then assessed and subsequent training provided as needed. Results indicated that generalization across verbal operants occurred across some, but not all, vocal responses. These results are discussed relative to the functional independence of verbal operants as described by Skinner.

B. F. Skinner’s Verbal Behavior: an Introduction

Skinner’s analysis of verbal behavior requires understanding its experimental and philosophical underpinnings. His interpretation of the social behavior known as “language” builds directly from the experimental analysis of behavior in direct contact with its immediate milieu, both inner and outer, and from the framing of behavioral contact as contingency relations. The analysis of the contingency relations of verbal behavior, however, deals with properties of behavior not only under the dynamic controls of direct contact, but as that control is mediated by society. A social community constructs that mediation by shaping its members’ actions to teach other members how to verbalize effectively through the proper forms of action. As such, Skinner’s attributes of verbal behavior are: 1) relational; 2) mediational; 3) communal; and 4; stipulational. All four are necessary components of his analysis of verbal behavior, and constitute what he defines as verbal behavior.

The concept of audience and verbal behavior’s multiple control

The Skinnerian analysis of verbal behavior involved the production of a classificatory scheme of the relations between responses and environment that would be its unit of analysis – the verbal operants. From the characterization of the control relation called audience by Skinner in Verbal Behavior (1957), two basic aspects, necessary to comprehend this concept, were identified: a) the consideration of audience as another verbal operant and b) the consideration of audience as a relation of additional control (conditional stimulation or establishing operation) for other relations ­– mand , tact, echoic, intraverbal and textual. In both situations, it is intended to enlighten the possible implications that the recognition of the specified relation could mean in terms of conceptual elaboration and the importance to recognize theses relations.

CONTRIVING TRANSITIVE CONDITIONED ESTABLISHING OPERATIONS TO ESTABLISH DERIVED MANDING SKILLS IN ADULTS WITH SEVERE DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate derived manding skills in 2 adults with severe developmental disabilities and language deficits by contriving transitive conditioned establishing operations. Specifically, we evaluated whether a history of reinforced conditional discrimination learning would ultimately result in a derived mand repertoire, in which participants manded for items that were needed to complete chained tasks. After mastering the first three phases of the picture exchange communication system (PECS), participants were taught to mand for the needed items by exchanging pictures of the items for the items themselves. They were then taught to conditionally relate the dictated names of the items to the corresponding pictures of the items and to relate the dictated names to the corresponding printed words. We then tested, in the absence of reinforcement, whether participants would mand for the items needed to complete the chained tasks using text rather than pictures. Both participants showed the emergence of derived mands and some derived stimulus relations as a result of this instruction. Some of the derived relations were shown to be intact at 1-month follow-up, and scores on derived mand probes were higher at follow-up than before training. In addition, the 2 participants vocally requested the needed items on maintenance test probes, a skill that was never trained and was not previously in their repertoires. These results suggest that a history of reinforced relational responding may facilitate the expansion of a number of verbal skills and emphasize the possibility of a synthesis of Skinner's (1957) analysis of verbal behavior and derived stimulus relations into language-training efforts for persons with significant disabilities.

Fifty years later: Comments on the further development of a science of verbal behavior.

Fifty years after the publication of Skinner's Verbal Behavior, some possibilities for the future of Skinner's of verbal are considered. Specifically, certain areas of development or advancement are examined which might be of special importance to the expansion and influence of the functional analysis of verbal behavior. One critical task for the influence of the field, for example, involves the removal of an obstacle; namely, the remarkably persistent and wholly inappropriate influence of Chomsky's polemic of 1959. Strategies for neutralizing this influence are explored. In looking at the future advancement of the field, case is offered for broadening the domain of verbal behavior research to include variety of complex verbal phenomena. Skinner's original work and more recent systematic treatments provide an important framework for the analysis of verbal behavior, but there is still room for, and need for inductively oriented, empirically based research programs that transcend specific interpretive or theoretical treatments. Such programs, under the guidance of the practices of radical behaviorism and effective behavior-analytic methodology, might provide additional lines of development and progress for the analysis of verbal behavior. Keywords: Verbal Behavior, radical behaviorism, functional analysis, inductive, empirically based. ********** In previous paper (Leigland, 2001), I offered modest assessment of progress toward Skinner's conception of a science of verbal (e.g., Skinner, 1945, 1957). On this fifty-year anniversary of the publication of Skinner's (1957) Verbal Behavior, I here offer an equally modest update on that progress in light of continuing developments in behavior analysis, recent developments in other fields, the effects of continuing impediment to the development of science of verbal behavior (or at least the recognition of developments by those outside behavior analysis), and suggestion regarding the expansion of sources of research programs in the field of verbal behavior. Verbal behavior is undoubtedly the most important and conspicuous behavioral characteristic of humans in relation to other species. From planning trip to the grocery store, to the development of new cultural practices, to genocide, the influence of verbal relations are seen virtually everywhere in human affairs. It is arguably the most important field for the future of behavior analysis (e.g., Hayes, Barnes-Holmes, & Roche, 2001; Leigland, 2001). Further, if the field of behavior analysis is ever to become growing and thriving presence in academia (e.g., in psychology departments), it must become viable, competing alternative to cognitive theory and research, nearly all of which is directly or indirectly related to verbal behavior. This in turn would mean the growth of basic behavior-analytic research programs in verbal behavior (which, unlike many other areas of inquiry, is in unique systematic position for the associated development of useful applications based on that research). While such developments would require considerable time and effort, opportunities may be arising for the promotion of functional analysis of verbal behavior. Obstacle First, it may be time to reconsider familiar and persistent obstacle to the promotion of behavior-analytic verbal behavior program. The impact of Chomsky's (1959) review of Skinner (1957) appears undiminished after nearly fifty years. In fact, the notion that Chomsky's review somehow destroyed Skinner's analysis seems to have moved beyond conventional wisdom to the status of one of the foundational axioms of Western Civilization. No hard data will be offered here in support of this statement, but recent stories abound of (for example) editors of major psychology journals who refuse to consider manuscript on verbal behavior simply because Chomsky had already shown Skinner's program to be unworkable. …

The effects of daily intensive tact instruction on the emission of pure mands and tacts in non-instructional settings by three preschool children with developmental delays.

Abstract We tested the effects of an intensive tact instruction procedure on the emission of verbal operants in non-instructional settings by three preschool students with developmental delays. The participants were selected because they emitted low numbers pure verbal operants in non-instructional settings throughout the school day. Specifically, we measured the number of pure mands and tacts emitted during probes in the non-instructional settings. During the intensive tact procedure, the participants received an additional 100 tacts above their average number of daily learn units. In a delayed multiple probe design, we found the intensive tact instruction was effective in increasing the number of pure mands and tacts emitted in the non-instructional settings by all three of the participants in the study. Keywords: Tacts, Mands, Learn units. ********** The development of a fluent speaker repertoire is critical for young children with language delays. Students with a fluent speaker repertoire use an extensive vocabulary across settings and overtime, extrapolate new vocabulary based on existing vocabulary and are reinforced naturally by communicative behavior (Hart & Risley, 1996). Furthermore, students who function as speakers can govern consequences in the presence of listeners in their environment by using another individual to mediate the contingencies (Greer, 2002). Deficits in the development of a speaker repertoire may be attributed to native or environmental factors. The latter was demonstrated by Hart & Risley (1995) who found a correlation between SES and vocabulary growth, where 3 year-old children from families categorized as low SES had acquired approximately half the vocabulary compared with children from higher SES or professional families. These findings were attributed to overall language interactions between parents and their children, in which parents of high SES used a vocabulary of over 2000 different words versus 1000 words used by parents of low SES. Additionally, the low SES children experienced infrequent opportunities for interactions, which placed these children at risk for failure in future languagelearning opportunities. Students present with deficits in their speaker repertoire often receive intense behavioral interventions provide opportunities for compensation. This instruction involves teaching the vocal operants-- mands and tacts. According to Skinner's analysis of verbal behavior (1957), mands and tacts are two of the functional relations in terms of their controlling antecedent and consequent events. Children typically learn tacts through direct instruction, naming or via observation if the student has an observational learning repertoire. The term tact, is derived from contact with one's own environment, and can represent aspects of an individuals' environment across all five senses: taste, smell, sound, touch and sight (Greer & Ross, 2006). More specifically, a tact is a vocal verbal operant is under non-verbal control and is reinforced by a generalized reinforcer (Skinner, 1957; Becker, 1989). In this case a generalized reinforcer would be the attention of another person. For example, a child may emit the tact with a vocal response car in the presence of an actual and the child's mother may respond that is a red car. In this case the mother's response functioned to reinforce the child's initial tact. This then increases the likelihood the child would emit further tacts in the future. Skinner (1957) differentiated between two different types of tacts; pure and intraverbal tacts, where an intraverbal or impure tact occurs under multiple controlling antecedents, which are both verbal and physical. At times during direct instruction students are required to emit impure tacts where the teacher points to a stimulus and as part of the antecedent and may ask What is it? Typically, children are learning the form and the correspondence between the stimulus and the word during instruction under the antecedent control of both a verbal stimulus and a nonverbal stimulus. …

Bloomfield and Skinner: Speech-community, functions of language, and scientific activity.

Abstract The approaches of Bloomfield and Skinner on the topics of speech-community, functions of language, and language and scientific activity are characterized; a comparative analysis follows; and approximations between the two authors are pointed out. The most important approximations are the verbal community as the ultimate source of language; the main function of language of obtaining practical effects in the world; the characterization of a considerable part of scientific activity as verbal; and the scientific activity as being deeply committed with successful action. The difference found is related to the subject matter: Bloomfield describes the system of the language of the community, and Skinner does the functional analysis of the repertoire of the individual. Keywords: Bloomfield, Skinner, verbal behavior, speech-community, functions of language, scientific activity. Introduction The vitality of the works of Leonard Bloomfield (1887-1949) and B. F. Skinner (1904-1990) is manifest not only in that frequent and explicit references are made to them but, more importantly, in that much of the knowledge produced in their fields--linguistics and behavior analysis, respectively--rests on the pillars of their concepts and analyses. The influence of Bloomfield's analysis of language on Skinner's analysis of verbal behavior has been pointed out with regard to the following topics: use of the analogy model to explain, in part, the creativity of verbal behavior (Matos & Passos, 2004); the phoneme as a unit of analysis (Passos & Matos, 1998; Joseph, Love & Taylor, 2001); as well as science and scientific method, verbal episode, and meaning (Passos & Matos, submitted). These authors wrote on complementary subject matters: Bloomfield studied the language--or the practices of the verbal community, as Skinner prefers to call it--while Skinner studied the individual speaker's verbal behavior, for which the practices of the verbal community are pre-requisite (Passos & Matos, submitted). This paper focuses on the similarities in Bloomfield and Skinner's approach to the topics of speech-community, functions of language, and language and scientific activity. Leonard Bloomfield and his concepts of act of speech and meaning Bloomfield was the preeminent scientist in his field in the United States, and his influence was strongly felt in Europe, as well (Fought, 1995, Koerner, 2003; Robins, 1997, pp. 237-238). He shaped structural linguistics, and his teaching is at the heart of present-day linguistics (Hockett, 1984; Matthews, 1992/1999, pp. 139, 149, 2001, pp. 142ff). Bloomfield worked in the areas of general linguistics, the description of languages, and historical and comparative linguistics. In addition, he did research in scientific methodology and created instructional methods for reading and foreign language. His book entitled Language (1933/1961), praised by so many linguists (see, e.g., Bolling, 1935/1970; Coseriu, 1986; Edgerton, 1933/1970; Howatt, 2002; Kroesch, 1933/1970; Lepschy, 1982; Sturtevan, 1934/1970), earned the following comment from Hockett in his foreword to the 1984 edition: [The book] is considered by many to be the most important general treatise on language ever written. First published just fifty-one years ago, it towers above all earlier works of the sort and, to date, above all more recent ones. Its author systematically sets forth, in prose poetic for its simplicity, the crucial findings of linguistics up to that time, with a perceptivity and realism derived from his own wide experience, monitored throughout by a reverent respect for his predecessors and an intimate knowledge of their achievements. (1984, p. ix) A number of explicit references to behaviorism in his works attest to Bloomfield's embracing of it (see, e.g., Bloomfield, 1926/1970, 1927/1970, 1930/1970, 1931/1970, 1932/1970, 1933/1961, pp. …

The effects of writer immersion and the responses of a peer reader on teaching the function of writing with middle school students.

Abstract We tested the effects of writer immersion and the responses emitted by a peer reader across four male middle school participants diagnosed with behavioral disorders. The participants were chosen for this study due to their high structural errors and inability to write functionally in order to affect the behavior of a reader. Writer immersion and the observing responses of a peer reader were used to increase both accurate structural and functional components of written responses to a probe picture and selected tasks. The dependent measures were the percentage of accurate structural components written during the pre- and post-experimental probes, the number of components drawn by the reader during the pre- and post-experimental probes, the percentage of accurate structural components written during the writer immersion phase and the number of components completed by the reader during the writer immersion phase. Results showed that the writer immersion procedure and the effect of the peer reader's responses to the participant's writing functioned to increase accuracy in the both structure and function of writing across all four participants. Keywords: writer immersion, technical writing, functional writing, peer reader, self-editing. ********** Writing is a crucial skill for children to acquire. While there is much emphasis on the form of writing, little emphasis has been placed on the teaching of the function of writing and its impact on a potential reader. In fact, many national standards focus on overarching goals in which children are required to speak and write from a variety of perspectives and across numerous tasks, but the effect that the child's writing has on the reader is seldom addressed. Just as a speaker utilizes vocal language to affect the listener, a writer writes in order to affect the reader. The writing repertoire of the child needs to be able to be clear enough to direct the behavior of the reader so that the reader will accurately perform the tasks required of him (Greer, 2002). According to Catania (1998), from a verbal behavior analysis or the functionalist perspective, units of speech are identified according to their function for the speaker or writer. Verbal behavior has consequences and these consequences affect subsequent verbal behavior. In other words, verbal behavior is characterized by the effect one person has on another person including effects on the listener and speaker, as well as the effects of the writer on the reader (Greer & Ross, 2007). According to Greer and Ross (2007) in order to teach effective and functional writing, the curriculum must focus on instructing the writer on how to influence the actions of the reader. This type of technical writing is based on the outcomes of the writer's instructions to the reader. For example, the writer may produce written instructions for assembling a bicycle or baking a cheesecake. The descriptions that are provided to the reader are the stimulus control for the reader to act upon the instructions. The curriculum for functional writing must focus on creating an establishing operation and relevant contingencies within the environment by assigning tasks that allow the writer to observe the effect that his writing has on a reader. Vargas (1978) arranged conditions in which the participants were assigned a writing task in which they how provide directions on how to complete a certain task. The participant had the reader complete the task based on the written information provided, and if the reader could not complete the task based on the directions, the writer immediately edited the directions so that the reader could complete the task accurately. Therefore, the reader's behavior affected the writer's behavior by prompting the editing and the writer's behavior affected the reader's behavior through the directions provided for the task completion. Verbal behavior training programs incorporate establishing operations in which the child's environment is manipulated to co-create naturally occurring motivational conditions in order to increase the frequency of verbal responses (Michael, 1988, 1993). …

Introduction to Volume 4.2 of the Journal of Early and Intensive Behavioral Intervention.

This issue offers seven reports of experiments, two reviews of the literature, and a book review. The lead article by Dunst et al. provides our readers with two analyses of the of response contingent child learning for profoundly disabled participants and their parents. This is interesting and important work that places both children and their parents at the center of the stage. The research also suggests potential behavioral developmental analyses that might be done with typically developing children. Most of all the paper identifies what can and should be done with individuals with profound disabilities, but often is not done. Three of the research reports address contemporary topics in verbal behavior analysis. Each of these analyses incorporates the listener role and the intercept of the speaker and listener. The papers provide protocols that lead the induction of new verbal developmental capabilities, or cusps, that have been identified in recent research in verbal behavior (Greer & Ross, 2007). The intensive tact procedure (Pereira-Delgado and Oblak) replicates and extends findings of the effectiveness of this procedure in expanding non-instructional social verbal interactions by preschoolers with language delays and shows how to induce social verbal behavior without having to wait for incidental opportunities. Specifically, the protocol shows how to provide the prerequisites that allow children to be affected by contact with verbal opportunities when they could not be affected by those opportunities before the intervention. The intensive tact procedure builds generalized reinforcement effect for the emission of tacts. Tacts are the critical foundation for the unfolding of more advanced verbal capabilities and socialization (e.g., naming and conversational units). Until children have the naming capability and are fluent readers the only way that they can acquire tacts is through direct instruction. Once they have naming they can acquire tacts indirectly and that is the capability that Speckman-Collins, Park, and Greer address in the test of the effect of acquiring auditory matching on the listener component of naming. The auditory matching protocol described by Speckman-Collins et al. expands prior work where auditory matching led to either first instances of echoics or exact echoics. In their study, the authors found that the auditory matching protocol resulted in the listener half of naming in children with limited speaker repertoires. Naming was also found to be a collateral outcome of systematic training in observational learning in the Rothstein and Gautreaux paper. Helou, Lai, and Sterkin report new data on the effect of writer immersion on functional writing, particularly the editing aspect of functional writing. Editing is an expanded listener capability. Their work adds to the growing evidence of the utility of the findings from verbal behavior analysis for curriculum objective to reach effective writing to children and youth with and without disabilities. Three of the research reports involve the induction or expansion of observational learning repertories and the manner in which tutoring taps the benefits of observational learning for tutors. Observational contact with contingencies is a critical repertoire. It is a repertoire that is often deficit or missing in some students; however recent work shows how it can be induced or expanded. Research in behavior analysis is currently addressing observational learning with renewed vigor and the result of this work is both surprising and promising (Greer, Singer-Dudek, & Gautreaux, 2006). One of the more promising efforts is the treatment of observational learning as a dependent variable rather that the traditional treatment of it as an independent variable. For too long we have ignored the importance of analyses of how we learn from indirect contact with contingencies of instruction or social interaction and the relation of higher order classes to certain types of observational learning that is key to social behavior. …

A comprehensive analysis of mand training.

Introduction In 1957, Skinner expanded the contention that individuals act on the environment and included the notion that individuals act in two distinct ways: namely on the environment and upon others. It is the action of individuals on others he considered under the umbrella of verbal behavior (1). In his 1957 analysis, Skinner provided a framework for understanding verbal behavior. According to Skinner, one understands verbal behavior when we predict the occurrence of specific instances and produce or control such behavior by altering the conditions under which it occurs (pg. 3). It is this prediction and control of verbal behavior that will allow us to not only understand communication disorders but also inform the way in which treatments are developed and implemented to overcome such deficits. Speech and language disorders (i.e., disorder related to verbal behavior) refer to problems in communication and related areas and are among the most common disabilities in the United States (US) (Van Dyke & Holte, 2003). Speech disorders are characterized as an impairment of the articulation of fluency, speech sounds, and/or voice; whereas language disorders are characterized as an impairment in comprehension and/or use of spoken, written, or other symbol systems involving either the form, content, or function (American Speech and Hearing Association, 1993). According to the U. S. Department of Education (2004) of the six million plus students served in the public schools' special education programs in 2002, over a million (21.6%) received services for speech and language disorders. However, this is likely to represent an underestimation of actual prevalence of speech and language disorders given that it does not include children who have speech and language delays secondary to other conditions or children who have not started formal education. Moreover, according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), one of the most concerning disorders faced by parents of children in America is Autism Spectrum Disorder, which is characterized by a significant impairment in social interactions and communication (Strock, 2004). These delays not only represent an important area of human development (i.e., ability to communicate), but research has also documented that children with speech and language delays demonstrate persistent impairments in developmental and functional skills in school not limited to language (Fox, Dodd, & Howard, 2002). In addition, children with speech and language delays have also been shown to experience long-term problems affecting learning, school achievement, and behavior (Laing et al., 2002; Chaimay, Thinkhamrop, & Thinkhamrop, 2006). In fact, problem behaviors are more prevalent among children with language delays than typically developing children (Willinger et al., 2003). Given the prevalence of speech and language delays as well as the comorbid issues related to academic and behavioral achievement, it is not surprising that communication (i.e., verbal behavior) in and of itself is a pressing area in need of evaluation. More specially, a comprehensive analysis of how we can predict and control verbal behavior related to speech and language delays is warranted. Skinner (1957) provided a theoretical analysis of verbal behavior wherein a number of different functional relations were described in terms of their controlling antecedent and consequent events (e.g., tacts, mands, intraverbals, autolitics, echoic, and textual) in an attempt to provide a framework for the predication and control of said behavior. Much research has been subsequently conducted to elucidate these relations. Thus, the intent of this article is to expand upon Skinner's analysis by synthesizing the current research and to provide a detailed analysis regarding the functional relations related to one specific form of verbal behavior, the mand. More specifically, to elucidate the variables related to teaching individuals to mand. …