Establishing Derived Requesting Skills in Adults With Severe Developmental Disabilities
By Rehfeldt, Ruth Anne; Root, Shannon L.; Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, Vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 101-105Publication Date: Spring 2005
Study undertaken to determine if individuals with severe developmental disabilities would show derived requesting skills after being taught to conditionally relate pictures of preferred items, their dictated names, and their corresponding text. Participants were 3 male adults with severe mental disability and rudimentary or no functional communication skills, who were trained in the use of the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS). Initial tests determined whether participants would select from an array a picture of a visible preferred item and exchange it for access to the item (manding). Next, identity relations between one word printed names and preferred items were tested. Subsequent probes tested 4 relations between dictated names and corresponding pictures, and dictated names and corresponding text: (1) naming pictures (tacting); (2) reading text (textual behavior); (3) matching pictures to text; and (4) matching text to pictures. During initial testing, no participant reliably tacted, exhibited textual behavior, matched words to pictures or vice versa, or used text to request preferred items. Posttest probes showed that all participants successfully matched words to pictures and pictures to words, and demonstrated derived requesting for at least two preferred items. Based on study results, the authors conclude that a reinforced history of relational responding is sufficient for the emergence of derived requesting skills in individuals with severe developmental disabilities and may facilitate the emergence of novel forms or requesting and other communication skills.
Published by: Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (SEAB) (Website:http://seab.envmed.rochester.edu/society)
Link to text: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1224399/pdf/i0021-8855-38-1-101.pdf
