The Acquiring of Verbal Operands - Article Example

Article Analysis on Evaluation and Training of Yes-No Responding Across Verbal Operants Total Number of Words: 1,033 Research Question Used in the Article Responses that are answerable by ‘yes’ or ‘no’ is one of the proposed treatment among children and adults who are experiencing language deficits through vocalization, manual signs, and augmentative communication. As part of developing and designing clinical procedures that could enhance the generalization across the verbal operants, the research study will focus not only on examining the functional use of ‘yes’ and ‘no’ responses across the different types of verbal operants such as the mands1, tacts2, and intraverbals3 among children with language deficits. The research study also assessed the independence and generalization across the verbal operants by assessing the generalization to different untaught words within each verbal operant condition. For this particular article, Shillingsburg et al. (2009) did not use any specific variables in the research study. As part of examining a total of three autistic boys between the age bracket of 2 to 8 years old who were enrolled in a daily intervention program for children with developmental disabilities, the following research questions were used as a guide in the study. Is topographically similar responses such as those that are answerable by ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions are functionally independent across mand, tact, and intraverbal operants? Would the mastery of ‘yes’ and ‘no’ response to specific questions result to generalization of untaught items within the same or other verbal operant class? The three children were taught on a one-on-one format using the discrete-trial instruction for two to five sessions per week. Each day, the research assistant would conduct at least one to five sessions of each category of verbal operants. The research assistant would then record whether or not the three students were able to respond to the questions that are answerable by ‘yes’ or ‘no’ correctly. During the research study, another person independently observed the students’ response to each questions asked. Eventually, the research findings for each child were compared with the baseline taken when the three children were subjected to undergo with five baseline probe sessions. Research Study Results Upon evaluating the functional independence of the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ responses across the verbal operants, the research findings revealed that results for the three research participants suggest that topographically similar respondents that were answerable by ‘yes’ or ‘no’ were functionally independent across mand, tact, and intravebral operants. Although the result did not show the possibility of generalization across other verbal operants, the research study proves that generalization across the baselines requried more training for intraverbal baseline as compared to other verbal operants like mand and tact baseline. Likewise, allowing the research participants to master the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ responses could result in generalization to other untaught items which can be classified within the same verbal operant class. Analysis of the Strengths and Weaknesses of the Study The research study was able to provide clear and adequate reasons why verbal operants like tact and mand can be easily acquired by the research participants as compared to the intraverbal response. Due to time constraint, it was not possible for Shillingsburg et al. (2009) to include the mand ‘no’ condition in the study. Particularly in the case of Gary, the weakness of the research study includes the fact that the researcher did not assess or even bother to teach the ‘no’ response under a mand condition. Since Gary has been so used to saying ‘yes’, the research participant tend to say ‘yes’ when he was asked if the food presented to him is his favourite food even if he does not prefer the food being presented to him. In line with this, it is difficult to determine whether or not the research participant really intended to say that ‘yes’ I do not prefer the food being presented to me or he simply does not know how to say ‘no’. The same problem has been observed in the case of Chuck which made him eat the food he least preferred. Another weakness of the research study involves the conditions being presented in each session as a way of assessing for generalization. To improve the findings of the research study, the researchers should avoid using the same ‘yes’ and ‘no’ questions during the teaching sessions and baseline sessions to avoid misleading test of generalization caused by masterization. Likewise, decision of the researchers not to assess the impact of natural environment on the generalization of responses made the researchers unable to determine whether or not the external environment could affect their ‘yes’ and ‘no’ response. Application of Study Results in Real-Life Scenario The study results can be used in different real-life scenarios particularly when teaching students who have been diagnosed with autism or other mental developmental disabilities. Based on the research findings as presented by Shillingsburg et al. (2009), special class teachers will be guided on how they could effectively use the ‘yes’ or ‘no’ responses within the classroom setting. Proposed Future Research Direction For future research study, the use of specific variable that could significantly affect the generalization across the verbal operants is highly recommended. Likewise, analyzing the full details behind the assessment and treatment conditions is necessary. For instance: Using the same ‘yes’ and ‘no’ questions during the teaching sessions and baseline sessions may cause the research participants to master or memorize their response for each question. Therefore, future researchers should avoid using the same ‘yes’ and ‘no’ questions during the teaching sessions and baseline sessions. Instead of focusing on the use of mand ‘yes’ condition, the future research study should focus on the use of mand ‘no’ condition or both ‘yes’ and ‘no’ conditions to enable the researcher gather a less biased result. Likewise, future researchers should consider the need to assess the potential impact of natural environment to the research participants’ response to ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions. *** End *** References Operant-Tech. (2009a). Retrieved September 5, 2009, from Skinnerian verbal relations: Mands: http://operant-tech.com/resources/basicverbal/ Operant-tech. (2009b). Retrieved September 5, 2009, from Skinnerian verbal relations: Mands: http://operant-tech.com/resources/basicverbal/ Operant-Tech. (2009c). Retrieved September 5, 2009, from Skinnerian verbal relations - Intreverbal: http://operant-tech.com/resources/basicverbal/ Shillingsburg, M., Kelley, M., Roane, H., Brown, A., & Brown, M. (2009). Evaluation and Training of Yes-No Responding Across Verbal Operants. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis , 42(2):209 - 223. Read More