Increasing the Mand Repertoire of Children With Autism Through the Use of an Interrupted Chain Procedure

Abstract

Mand training is an essential component of verbal behavior training for any individual who lacks this skill. The current study replicates and extends, with some procedural differences, the work of Hall and Sundberg (1987) by using an interrupted chain procedure to teach mands for missing items to children with autism. The participants were 3 children with autism, ranging between 5 and 8 years of age, who would regularly mand for a wide variety of reinforcers when they were present but would rarely mand for items that were not in sight (i.e., missing items). Participants were first taught to complete 3 behavior chains. Subsequently, the chains were interrupted by removing 1 item needed to complete each chain to contrive motivating operations (MOs) as a means of teaching mands for missing items. Following mand training incorporating vocal prompt and prompt fading procedures, all participants emitted unprompted mands for the missing items within the context of the trained chains and within the context of novel, untrained chains. After teaching mands for missing items, probes were conducted to test for untrained tact acquisition. All participants also demonstrated tact responses relative to the missing items as a result of the mand training.

Teaching Mands to Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Using Behavior Chain Interruption Strategies: a Systematic Review

“…Thirteen studies (46%) employed the missing item format (e.g., Albert et al 2012;Endicott and Higbee 2007;Lechago et al 2010;Tada and Kato 2005). For example, Albert et al (2012) used the missing item format to target a mand for glitter, which was needed to complete an art project.…”

“…Mands related to requesting preferred items were taught in 11 (39%) studies (e.g., Albert et al 2012;Grunsell and Carter 2002;Roberts-Pennell and Sigafoos 1999). Mands for information were taught in 14 (50%) studies (e.g., Marion et al 2012b;Shillingsburg et al 2014a;Sundberg et al 2002).…”

“…Get [item name.]) were used to set the occasion for a manding opportunity in 22 (79%) of the studies (e.g., Albert et al 2012;Lechago et al 2013;Sidener et al 2010). For example, Lechago et al (2013) used the instruction Make a volcano, to signal the start of the behavior chain and to set the occasion for a mand for information (i.e., How do I?).…”

“…To interrupt such a chain, and thus create an MO for a mand such as where is my jacket, a therapist might hide the jacket prior to the start of the chain. To teach this mand, therapist might wait for the child to come to that step in the chain and might then model the correct response, wait for an approximation from the child, and finally provide the information regarding the location of the missing jacket (e.g., Albert et al 2012;Betz et al 2010;Sundberg et al 2002).…”

A Staff-Training Program to Increase Spontaneous Vocal Requests in Children With Autism

“…Naturalistic training strategies shown to be effective in increasing spontaneous requesting for children with autism include time delay (Carbone, Sweeney-Kerwin, Attanasio, & Kaspar;Charlop, Schreibman & Thibodeau;1985;Halle, Marshall, & Spradlin, 1979), incidental teaching (Hart & Risley, 1975, 2000, interrupted chain procedures (Albert, Carbone, Murray, Hagerty, & Sweeny-Kerwin, 2012, and providing opportunities for social control with choice and preference (Bourret, Vollmer & Rapp, 2004;Dyer, 1989;O'Reilly et al, 2012;Peck, 1985). These strategies generally involve presenting choices of preferred items.…”