Exchange‐based communication training may not consistently facilitate communication in the absence of the requested item

Abstract

The role of stimulus presence on spontaneous communication was assessed with 3 participants in a nonconcurrent multiple baseline with embedded reversals design. Participants were taught to request 2 highly preferred items. Once mastery criterion was met, test sessions were conducted with stimuli either visible or absent from the room, and request rate was measured. For 2 participants, training produced requests in both the presence and absence of the stimulus. For one participant, however, the presence of the stimulus was necessary to evoke the response. Results suggest that teaching individuals to request items when they are present may not consistently lead to requests when those items are absent.

Does teaching an omnibus mand preclude the development of specifying mands?

“…To evaluate if these mands occurred as part of a communicative chain, as well to determine if the other reinforcers were still relevant, we removed bubbles from the pool of available items. When bubbles were removed at session 72, mands for bubbles decreased and mands for Kindle and snacks increased (this particular finding is similar to Pizarro & Borrero, 2017, who found that some clients may not request items in their absence).…”