Implementing the Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (VB-MAPP): Teaching Assessment Techniques

Abstract

The Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (VB-MAPP) is an assessment tool used with individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and other language delays (Sundberg 2008). The milestones assessment section of the VB-MAPP is used to determine an individual's current skill level. The results of the milestones assessment can be used to identify instructional goals and objectives. The current study examined the effects of behavioral skills training (BST) on the administration of the milestones assessment by two educational professionals. The BST intervention resulted in immediate increases in performance for both participants.Keywords Behavioral skills training . Staff training . Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement ProgramThe Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (VB-MAPP) is a five-component program designed to measure verbal behavior, guide individualized instruction needed to address deficits in verbal behavior, and evaluate progress over the course of a treatment program (Sundberg 2008). The assessment is used to evaluate performance on Skinner's (1957) verbal operants across a number of tasks. The milestones assessment is divided into three developmental levels (0-18, 18-30, and 30-48 months), based on the attainment of developmental milestones by typically developing children. The current study focused on levels 1 and 2 of the milestones assessment of the VB-MAPP only. Level 1 of the assessment includes the evaluation of early mand, tact, listener, social, visualperceptual and match-to-sample, independent play, motor imitation, and echoic skills, as well as spontaneous vocal behavior. Level 2 of the assessment includes continued evaluation of expanded level 1 skills (with the exception of spontaneous vocal behavior) as well as an evaluation of listener responding by function, feature, and class, intraverbals, classroom/group routines, and linguistic skills (see Sundberg 2008). Level 3 expands on the skills targeted in level 2 and assesses preacademic behaviors in reading, math, and writing. The VB-MAPP is a tool that can be used in a variety of settings with any number of clinical populations (Sundberg 2008). Many educational settings use the instrument to establish language goals and objectives for individuals with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental disabilities.As with all tools and protocols, the results of the VB-MAPP will only be meaningful if the assessment is conducted by professionals who are skilled in its Analysis Verbal Behav (2014) (Sundberg 2008). That is, administrators must be aware of the functional relationships between verbal behavior and the speaker's environment in order to correctly design the assessment environment and assess the verbal operants. Without an understanding of Skinner's (1957) analysis of verbal behavior, an individual may mistake one operant for another based on formal similarity. Table 1 provides examples of verbal operants in which the response topography, saying "train," is the s...

Training psychology interns to teach verbal and non-verbal repertoires in children with autism spectrum disorder

“…The research corroborated and extended what was produced in the literature, in the sense that the BST training resulted in increasing levels of performance accuracy for different populations (Sarakoff & Sturmey, 2004;Lerman et al, 2008;Lerman et al, 2013;Barnes, Mellor & Rehfeldt, 2014;Faggiani, 2014;Barboza et al, 2015;Lerman et al, 2015;Shireman, Lerman & Hillman, 2016;Ferreira, Silva & Barros, 2016;Barkaia, Stokes & Mikiashvili, 2017;Martone, 2017;Aureliano, 2018;Guimarães et al, 2018;Matos et al, 2019). It is important to consider that in the present research, none of the Psychology interns were familiar with ASD and Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) to ASD, like the participants from the study conducted by Matos et al (2019).…”

“…Sarakoff & Sturmey (2004) and Lerman et al (2008) successfully taught special education teachers to accurately implement the teaching of repertoires through DTT to children with ASD. Barnes, Mellor & Rehfeldt (2014) and Martone (2017) taughtpsychologists and educators to accurately conduct ABA assessments (Sundberg, 2008) to determine entry repertoires of children with ASD. Barkaia, Stokes & Mikiashvili (2017) successfully trained psychologists to accurately implement the teaching of verbal operants to children with ASD, considering that the training of the professionals was conducted through videoconferences (internet-based training).…”

Oficinas sobre transtorno do espectro autista para pais, cuidadores e profissionais: análise de uma experiência

“…Isso possibilita um diagnóstico e uma intervenção cada vez mais precoce, e, portanto, um prognóstico mais promissor (BIBBY et al, 2002;WERNER et al, 2005). A busca por qualificação profissional é importante para que estratégias sejam elaboradas e implementadas em cada fase do quadro clínico e de acordo com as particularidades de cada criança com TEA (BARNES et al, 2014;GADIA et al, 2004), para assim proporcionar um tratamento diário e sistemático que produza resultados que equilibrem os excessos e os déficits de repertórios comportamentais. Percebe-se ainda a importância do treinamento de cuidadores de indivíduos com TEA para o avanço na compreensão do que fazer e como fazer, e para o melhor convívio social destes indivíduos (BRASIL, 2013).…”

Moderate Effects of Low-Intensity Behavioral Intervention

“…Before adopting any measurement tool for research or clinical purposes, it is necessary to examine its psychometric properties. Prior studies have indicated that clinicians can conduct the VB-MAPP with high fidelity if they receive sufficient training (Barnes, Mellor, & Rehfeldt, 2014), and presumably with high reliably. Preliminary data indicate that it has good to excellent milestones scoring reliability (Montallana, 2018), but to our knowledge there are no published peer-reviewed studies that have examined this.…”