Abstract
An important educational objective for many persons with developmental disabilities is the acquisition of verbal operants such as the mand (e.g., requesting) and tact (e.g., labeling). Mands and tacts have been described as separate response classes and several studies support this description. Consequently, an important applied issue involves implementing procedures to develop both tact and mand repertoires. The present study investigated procedures for developing mands and tacts in three learners with severe disabilities. Learners were first taught to tact, then mand food/beverage items and the utensils required to access those items by pointing to line drawings depicting the items. The results suggest that responses acquired as tacts do not readily occur as mands. "Spontaneous" manding was developed through a transfer of stimulus control procedure which brought mands under the control of conditioned establishing operations. Substantial transfer to untrained objects and transfer across response classes were frequently noted after both tact and mand interventions had occured for some items. Variables facilitating these generalized effects are discussed.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 183-200 |
Number of pages | 18 |
Journal | Research in Developmental Disabilities |
Volume | 10 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1989 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Preparation of this work was supported in part by Contract No. 300-82-0363 awarded to the University of Minnesota from the Division of Innovations and Development, Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education. The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the U.S. Department of Education, and no official endorsement should be inferred.