Why Children With Autism Often Fail to Acquire a Functional Intraverbal Repertoire and What to do About it

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Why Children With Autism Often Fail to Acquire
a Functional Intraverbal Repertoire and What to
do About it

• Mark L. Sundberg, Ph.D., BCBA-D
• (www.marksundberg.com)

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Intraverbal Behavior

• The most significant aspects of human behavior
  involve intraverbal behavior
• language acquisition
• education
• social behavior and relationships
• knowledge, thinking, and intellectual behavior
• literature, poetry, stories, novels
• understanding
• employment
• beliefs, views, opinions
• religion
• international relations
• facts of history....

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Intraverbal Behavior

• A young childs early intraverbal behavior may be
  relatively simple such filling in the words of
  songs or fun activities (e.g., Ready, set...
  Peek-a-)
• These response may be multiply controlled (e.g.,
  MOs)
• But intraverbal behavior soon becomes quite
  complex and a significant part of a developing
  childs daily verbal behavior

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What is Intraverbal Behavior?

• Intraverbal behavior is a type of verbal behavior
  where the form of the response (what is said,
  signed, written, etc.) is under the functional
  control of an antecedent verbal discriminative
  stimulus (SD) and some type of generalized
  conditioned reinforcement (Skinner, 1957)
• The verbal stimulus and the verbal response do
  not match each other (i.e., no point-to-point
  correspondence)
• Verbal stimulus control
  Verbal responses
• Whats your favorite movie? Cars
• Whats your name? Neil
• What kind of work do you do? Im
  a behavior analyst
• What causes autism? There are
  probably a variety...

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How is the Intraverbal Different from the Mand,
Tact, Echoic?

• Antecedent Behavior
  Consequence
• Motivation (MO) Mand
  Specific reinforcement
• Nonverbal SD Tact Generalized
  reinforcement
• Verbal SD Echoic
  Generalized reinforcement
• (w/ a match)
• Verbal SD Intraverbal
  Generalized reinforcement
• (w/o a match)
• These are all called expressive language in
  traditional treatments

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Common Intraverbal Problems Experienced by
Children with Autism

• Absent or weak intraverbal behavior, despite
  strong mands, tacts, and listener (receptive)
  skills
• Rote intraverbal responses
• Difficulty answering questions--especially
  complex questions
• Excessive rote scripting
• No conversational skills
• Echolalia with intraverbal questions
• Poor peer intraverbal interaction
• Irrelevant intraverbal behavior
• Self as a listener with overt intraverbal behavior

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Why the Intraverbal Repertoire may be Absent,
Weak, or Impaired

• There are many potential causes of intraverbal
  problems. Here are a few...
• The child has not received formal intraverbal
  training
• The child is given training, but its too early
  to focus on intraverbals
• The specific target responses are not in the
  childs repertoire as tacts, listener
  discriminations (LDs), or listener responding by
  function, feature, and class (LRFFCs) (e.g.,
  What vehicle has wings?)
• Single verbal stimuli and single verbal responses
  have been over conditioned
• The intraverbal curriculum is out of
  developmental sequence
• The child does not have sufficient training on
  verbal conditional discriminations

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Special Problems Related to Teaching Intraverbal
Behavior

• There are many complexities involved in the
  intraverbal. Here are a few...
• Verbal stimulus control vs. nonverbal stimulus
  control
• Transitory and constantly changing SDs vs. the
  general static nature of tact, mand,
  matching-to-sample
• A separate curriculum is required
• Tact, mand, and listener (receptive)
  prerequisites
• Many words have no clear referent, but change the
  meaning of words in a sentence (if, but, cant,
  or, usually, its, for, of)
• Verbal stimulus and response classes must be
  established
• Verbal conditional discrimination training is
  usually necessary

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Conditional Discriminations

• Conditional discrimination When the nature or
  extent of operant control by a stimulus condition
  depends on some other stimulus condition
  (Michael, 1993, p. 14)
• One discriminative stimulus (SD) or motivational
  operation (MO) alters the evocative effect of a
  second stimulus, and establishes the second
  stimulus as an SD or MO, and they collectively
  evoke a response

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Verbal Conditional Discriminations (VCD)

• What constitutes a verbal conditional
  discrimination and an intraverbal response?
• Two components of a verbal stimulus where one
  verbal stimulus alters the evocative effect of
  the second verbal stimulus, and collectively they
  evoke a differential intraverbal response
• Skinner (1957, p. 76) calls this a compound
  verbal stimulus, but does not use the term
  verbal conditional discrimination
• Antecedent Response
• Verbal SD1 Verbal SD2 Intraverbal
  Response

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Verbal Conditional Discriminations (VCD)

• Examples...
• Antecedent (Verbal SD1 Verbal SD2)
  Intraverbal Response
• Big animal Lion
• Little animal Mouse
• Big vehicle Boeing 747
• Little vehicle A toy bike
• VCDVSD1 alters the evocative effect of VSD2 or
  vice versa
• A correct response is dependent on VCD between
  words, if individual words are the source of
  control errors will occur

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Teaching Intraverbal Behavior to Children with
Autism

• Many children with autism have a difficult time
  acquiring intraverbal behavior because beyond
  simple intraverbals (A kitty says...), most
  intraverbal responses are part of a VCDs.
• For example...
• Whats your cats name
• Whats my cats name?
• What did the cat chase?
• What did the dog chase?

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Current Study

• Is there a general sequence of increasingly
  complex verbal stimuli and VCDs that can be used
  for assessment and intervention?
• When are typically developing children successful
  at these tasks?
• A revised version (v. 5-2) of the 80-item
  intraverbal subtest of the VB-MAPP was designed
  with increasingly complex intraverbal tasks.
  This version was modified as function of previous
  field-test data
• This is the 3rd large-scale administration of the
  VB-MAPP IV subtest

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Current Study

• Approximately 8,500 intraverbal responses were
  collected
• 40 typically developing children and 71 children
  with autism served as participants (bringing the
  project total to 91 typically developing children
  and 262 children with autism)
• Ages ranged from 23 months old to 15 years old
• Parents and professionals administered the
  assessment based on a set of written instructions

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Acknowledgments for the People who Conducted the
Field Testing

• Kristen Albert
• Judah Axe
• Vincent Carbone
• Lori Chamberlain
• Anne Cummings
• Carla Epps
• William Galbraith
• Rebecca Godfrey
• Lisa Hale
• Ally Labrie
• Heather Law

• Mike Miklos
• Paige Raetz
• Rikki Roden
• David Roth
• Rachael Sautter
• Carl Sundberg
• Cindy Sundberg
• Brenda Terzich
• Joel Vodovic
• Kaisa Weathers

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Intraverbal Assessment Level 7 Multiple SDs
with Prepositions, Adverbs, Negation
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Results and Error Analysis for the Typically
Developing Children

• 1½-year-olds (20-30 mands and tacts)
• IV Assessment scores Less than 5
• Generally no IV behavior
• 2-year-olds (100-200 mands and tacts)
• IV Assessment scores 10-30 range
• Some intraverbal behavior, but no VCDs
• Can do song fill-ins and fun IVs, some
  associations, animal sounds, common fill-ins
  limited WH answers (e.g., name, or one word
  answers) lots of echoic responses

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Results and Error Analysis for the Typically
Developing Children

• 2 ½ -year-olds (200-400 mands and tacts)
• IV Assessment scores 20-40 range
• Some simple intraverbal behavior, getting some
  easy WH questions, minimal VCDs
• Frequent echoic responding, or What? I dont
  know Things When some intraverbal control was
  demonstrated, often simple IV relation, minimal
  verbal conditional discriminations, the last, or
  prominent word was usually the source of stimulus
  control
• What do you smell with? ... Poopies
• What grows on your head? ... Shoulders
• What animal moves real slow? ... Drink
  water slow?
• What helps a flower grow? Up

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Results and Error Analysis for the Typically
Developing Children

• 3-year-olds (500-1000 mands and tacts)
• IV Assessment scores 40-60 range
• Well established basic intraverbal repertoire,
  100s of IV relations
• But verbal conditional discrimination errors were
  prevalent
• What grows on your head? ... Plants
• Many WH questions cause problems
• Why do people wear glasses? ... Because
  they do
• When do we set the table? ... So we dont
  make a mess of food
• Why do you use a Band-Aid? ... A rainbow
• Where do you eat? ... Food
• Rote responses were evident
• What day is today? ... Rainy (it was
  sunny)

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Results and Error Analysis for the Typically
Developing Children

• 3-year-olds (cont.)
• Problems with prepositions, adjectives, adverbs
  in VCDs
• Whats under a house? ... roof
• What something that is sharp? ... Giraffe
• Trouble with negation, time, personal information
  (except first name)
• Whats something you cant wear? ... Shirt
• Tell me something that is not a food ... We
  dont throw food.
• What day is today? ... Sunny
• What is your last name? ... Noah Jon
  Sofia Neil
• Three causes of errors VCDs, complexity of the
  different parts of speech, and meanings of
  individual words (e.g., clothing evoked echoic
  responses for many 3 year olds)

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Results and Error Analysis for the Typically
Developing Children

• 3½-year-olds (500-1200 mands and tacts)
• IV Assessment scores 50-70 range
• Verbal conditional discrimination errors were
  still common
• What grows on your head? ... Hat
• Name some clothing ... For the body
• Negation still a major major problem
• Still having problems with, prepositions,
  adjectives, adverbs in VCDs
• Still problems with time concepts
• Still emitted echoic responses when no
  intraverbal occurred

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Results and Error Analysis for the Typically
Developing Children

• 4-year-olds (800-1800 mands and tacts)
• IV Assessment scores 50-75 range
• Verbal conditional discrimination errors were
  still common
• What do you smell with?... A skunk
• But VCDs are clearly getting stronger
• Whats above a house?...An airplane, and
  stuff thats on the roof
• Negation, time concepts, prepositions, and
  adjectives in a VCDs continued to be a problem
  for many children
• Specific words and concepts like different,
  between, take how, why caused problems

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Results and Error Analysis for the Typically
Developing Children

• 5-year-olds (1000-2500 mands and tacts)
• IV Assessment scores 55-76 range
• They get it! They are much better at VCDs.
• Whats in a balloon? ... Helium Air
• However, they still have problems with negation,
  time concepts, and prepositions
• Many children missed What day is today? What
  day is before Tuesday Whats your last name.
  How is a car different from a bike? What
  number is between 6 and 8?

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Results and Error Analysis for the Children with
Autism

• 71 children served as participants
• Ages ranged from 35 months old to 15 years old
• Consultants, classroom staff, and in-home
  providers administered the assessment

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Error Analysis for theChildren with Autism

• The children with autism made the same types of
  errors as typical children who scored at their
  level
• Verbal conditional discriminations were hard for
  all children especially those involving WH
  questions and the different parts of speech
• Rote responding was more obvious, and more firmly
  established
• Echoic responses were more frequent
• Negative behavior was higher with increasing
  complexity of the verbal stimulus

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Errors Made by Typically Developing Children and
Children with Autism Scoring at the Same Level

• IV Assessment Score of 0-19
• Typically developing children and children with
  autism who scored at this level emitted similar
  errors
• Gave an echoic response to the question
• Gave no answer
• Gave a standard single answer like yeah, or
  yes
• Pointed at something or pointed in some location
  (listener behavior)
• Negative behavior was higher for children with
  autism (avoidance and escape)

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Errors Made by Typical Children and Children with
Autism Scoring at the Same Level

• IV Assessment Score of 20-29
• Samples Typical Autism
• What can fly? All gone shirt
  Water
• What can you sing? Yes No
  Response
• Whats outside? Outside Outside

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Errors Made by Typical Children and Children with
Autism Scoring at the Same Level

• IV Assessment Score of 30-39
• Samples Typical Autism
• What are some colors? 1, 2,
  3 Coloring
• Why do you use a Band-Aid? On my finger
  Happens
• Where do you take a bath? Mommy and
  daddy With toys

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Errors Made by Typical Children and Children with
Autism Scoring at the Same Level

• IV Assessment Score of 40-49
• Samples Typical Autism
• What grows outside? Sand
  Playground
• What shape are wheels? Triangle
  Cars
• What do you wear on your head? A ear
  Boo boo

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Errors Made by Typical Children and Children with
Autism Scoring at the Same Level

• IV Assessment Score of 50-59
• Samples Typical Autism
• What color are wheels? Circle
  Red
• What do you eat with? Cheese
  Pizza
• Name some clothing. Clothing
  Clothing

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Errors Made by Typical Children and Children with
Autism Scoring at the Same Level

• IV Assessment Score of 60-69
• Samples Typical Autism
• Whats in a balloon? It pops String
• What makes you sad? Cry
  Cry
• What grows on your head? Hats A
  plant

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Errors Made by Typical Children and Children with
Autism Scoring at the Same Level

• IV Assessment Score of 70-80
• Samples Typical Autism
• What day comes before Tuesday? Wednesday
  Wednesday
• Whats your last name? Gave full name
  Gave full name
• What number is between 6 and 8? 9
  9

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Implication for Intraverbal Intervention Programs

• Use the acquisition of intraverbal behavior of
  typically developing children as a guide for an
  intraverbal curriculum
• Assess a target childs existing intraverbal
  repertoire using a tool like the one presented
  here
• Look for balance across the scores of the VB-MAPP
  (Is the child ready for intraverbal training?)
• Assess the corresponding mand, tact, and listener
  repertoires and be assured they are present prior
  to intraverbal training (e.g., big and little
  as tacts and LDs)
• Carefully sequence the intraverbal tasks (e.g.,
  the VB-MAPP intraverbal task analysis)

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Implication for Intraverbal Intervention Programs

• Typically developing 3-year-olds emit 1000s of
  intraverbal responses a day, thus there needs to
  be many trials for language delayed children.
• Dont move from the nonverbal context too quickly
• Dont be in a rush to move up the curriculum
• There is a need for massive verbal stimulus and
  response generalization
• Use LRFFC as a stepping stone to IV
• Always analyze errors and the sources of control.
  Back down the curriculum sequence if necessary
• Mixed and rotated VB trials on one topic mimic
  general conversation and provide a bridge to the
  natural use of the skill

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Implication for Intraverbal Intervention Programs

• Respect the complexity of verbal conditional
  discriminations (VCDs)
• Establish a strong repertoire of simple
  intraverbal relations prior to moving to VCDs and
  WH questions (100s of IVs from Group 1 and 2)
• Be aware that a (rote) correct answer to a
  question may occur when the VCDs element is
  removed (e.g., all What color questions, or all
  What shape questions, or all Where
  questions). Mixed and rotated VB trials can
  solve that problem
• Be assured that the individual words evoke
  generalized intraverbal responses prior to
  combining them in a VCDs task (e.g., grows
  head garden individually evoke a variety of
  intraverbal responses)

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Conclusions

• The intraverbal behavior of typically developing
  children can serve as an important guide for an
  intraverbal curriculum for children with autism
  or other developmental disabilities
• The primary behavioral relation relevant to
  intraverbal behavior almost always involves a
  verbal conditional discrimination
• Children with autism made the same intraverbal
  errors as typical children who scored at their
  level
• A behavioral analysis of these verbal errors can
  help us better understand the errors made by
  children with autism and avoid those errors by
  better sequencing the curriculum tasks, and by
  providing the necessary instruction, especially
  on VCDs

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Conclusions

• There is very little behavioral research on VCDs
  and their relation to intraverbal behavior (for a
  review see Axe, 2008)
• Existing conditional discrimination research can
  serve as a guide for VCD intraverbal research
  (e.g., Saunders Spradlin, 1989)

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Funny Intraverbal ResponsesKids say the
darnedest things

• Why do people wear glasses? ... Because
  they are old and tired
• Whats something you cant wear?... I cant wear
  my Halloween shirt
• What do you write on? ... Not on
  the wall
• What can you kick? We only kick balls
• Where do you put dirty clothes? ... In the
  dishwasher
• Who drives a car? ... Daddy slept in the
  car
• You sit on a... Time-out chair
• Twinkle, twinkle, little ... Starbucks

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Thank You!

• For an electronic version of this presentation
  visit
• marksundberg.com/ABAI
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