Chapter 9

Beginning Mand Training

(DRAFT VERSION)

April 13, 2005

The Importance of the Mand

The first type of verbal behavior emitted by an infant usually occurs between 4 and 8 weeks of life (Bijou & Baer, 1965; Schlinger, 1998; Skinner, 1957). Linguistic behavior has its origins in the form of unlearned crying which is a reflex related to biological needs, but soon crying becomes a learned behavior as it gets reinforced each day (Skinner, 1957). For example, infants cry when they are hungry and as a result receive food. They also cry when they are uncomfortable or tired and receive comfort, they cry when they are cold and receive warmth, they cry when they are in pain or afraid and receive relief, and so on. Initially, most parents play a guessing game to determine why their child is crying. But, eventually different forms of crying begin to emerge for each type of motivation and parents are able to identify a specific cry as related to hunger, pain, sleepiness, etc. Thus, early language development is a product of the interaction between biological and environmental variables. Around 8 weeks of life infants even develop what has been identified in the literature as “fake crying” (Novak, 1996; Wolff, 1969). These cries are not related to biological needs, but are requests for adult attention. For this type of cry, the motivation is related to wanting adult attention and the consequences consist of obtaining that attention. For most infants, crying becomes a way to communicate with adults in order to obtain desired reinforcers and to remove aversive stimuli.

Skinner (1957) identifies this type of verbal behavior as a mand. A mand is a type of language that involves a three-component interaction between a speaker and a listener. First, there must be some kind of motivation affecting the speaker (e.g., the child is hungry), second, this motivation evokes some form of behavior (e.g., crying), and third, this behavior is followed by a consequence delivered by a listener that is directly related to the motivation (e.g., food). In behavioral psychology the relation between antecedents,behavior, and consequences is called the three-term contingency (Skinner, 1953). Each time this three-term relation occurs the behavior in the middle may change slightly. The crying may get louder, sharper, higher pitched, etc., depending on which aspect of the cry is most consistently followed by the delivery of food. This process is called shaping. Behavior is constantly shaped by the effects that it has on the social environment.The behavior ofa child who is hungry is gradually being shaped by the consequences delivered by adults in his environment. The child learns to emit a specific form of crying for hunger that is different from the cry that is related to fear, or the cry that is related to being sleepy, because of differential consequences. That is, the reinforcer related to food deprivation is food, while the reinforcer related to sleep deprivation might be cuddling and rocking.

Early infant manding may soon begin to occur with a variety of response forms such as single phonemes, intonations, grunting, grimacing, as well as negative behaviors such as screaming, crying and tantruming. Infants typically emit thousands of mands during their first year of life. This high rate of manding plays a key role in establishing the foundation for further language development. Not only does manding get a child what he wants, but also the roles of speaker and listener become firmly established. An infant learns that manding, or “speaking” brings about changes in adult behavior and allows the infant to control the social environment. In other words, with manding the infant is an active participant in day-to-day events, and has a say in those events. The infant, of course, does not identify the fact that he can control adult behavior, but this effect becomes quite obvious to the parent, especially those whose infant’s rate of manding becomes excessive, as may be observed with infants identified as “colic.”

Manding serves several other important functions for a child and parent (Table 5-1). In addition to getting a child what he wants, much of what is typically identified as bonding involves the association of adults with the presentation of reinforcers, and the removal of aversive stimuli. Successful manding allows a child to inform the parent of important events that are currently affecting a child such as hunger, pain, and fearful events. Parents are then able to provide the appropriate consequence at a point in time when that specific consequence is most effective, thus increasing the bonding process. For example, if a child is frightened by an approaching dog and emits a cry that is identified by the parents as a mand for help, the parent can immediately remove the aversive stimulus by picking up the child. An important effect of this interaction is that the parent is paired with the removal of an aversive event for the child, which increases a parent’s conditioned reinforcement value.

Eventually, around 8 to 12 months of life an infant begins to emit approximations to understandable words as mands. When words become more clearly understood by listeners, specific consequences are delivered more consistently and the frequency and variation of mands begins to increase substantially. Many of the mands are related to the delivery of reinforcers (e.g., Juice, Cookie. Elmo), but perhaps an equal amount of mands are related to the removal of aversives (No, Head shakes, Mine, Screams, Tantrums, etc.). Skinner (1957) points out that the mand is the only type of verbal behavior that directly benefits the speaker. This is because the mand is the only type of verbal behavior that is evoked by the speaker’s motivation and has consequences that are specific to that motivation. Manding allows a child to control his social environment to some degree, and bring about changes in that environment. The other types of verbal behavior (e.g., echoic, tact, intraverbal) are for the benefit of the listener. Even when a child begins to acquire the other types of verbal behavior, manding still dominates as the most frequent verbal operant. Most parents have no trouble in agreeing that day-to-day life with a 12-18 month old infant is busy, and it is typically all about what the child wants to do.

Table 1

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Importance of the Mand

Mands are the first type of verbal behavior acquired by typical children

Manding is the only verbal operant that directly benefits the speaker

Manding allows a child to get what he wants, when it is wanted

A parent or caretaker is paired with the delivery of reinforcement related to a specific mand

Manding brings about desired changes or conditions

Manding allows a child to control the social environment

Manding training can decrease negative behaviors that serve the mand function

Mand training helps to establish speaker as well as listener rolls

Mand trials can be used as reinforcers for other forms of verbal behavior

Manding is essential for social interaction

Manding allows a speaker to acquire new information and new forms of verbal behavior

Neglect of the mand can impair language development

Mands do not emerge by training on the other verbal operants

Manding allows one to get rid of what he/she does NOT want, when it is not wanted

Neglect of the mand can result in emotional impairment

Excessive manding is a burden on the listener

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Neglect or Incorrect Reinforcement of the Mand

Neglecting or incorrectly reinforcing a child’s mand repertoire can have serious developmental consequences (Drash & Tutor, 1993; 2004; Skinner, 1957). There are a variety of potential problems that can lead to linguistic, behavioral, and emotional impairments for a child. The effects of failure to reinforce mands that are related to biological needs are clear, and have implications for infant survival. But as an infant grows there are several potential problems that may be related to failing to reinforce mands or delivering incorrect consequence related to an infant’s mand repertoire. Not only do parents lose out on important pairing opportunities, but if acceptable responses forms are not established for manding (i.e., words), it is common to observe negative behavior that functions as a mand. These problems are often identified with labels such as a child who is a brat, crybaby, or colicky. Sometimes the negative behavior can become so severe (e.g., tantrums, aggression, self-injurious behavior) that parents are at a complete loss as to what to do. It is also possible that the failure to correctly reinforce mands may produce a reduction in attempts to mand (extinction), and a child may seem indifferent, withdrawn, or asocial. Or, the child may develop a very restricted range of mands that may only occur when the MO is quite strong. On the other hand, excessive reinforcement of mands may produce a mand rate that becomes intolerable to parents and caretakers, and these children may be identified as “spoiled” or “needy.” Therefore, it is very important for parents to understand the role of mands for an infant, and to provide a balanced environment between the three extremes of ignoring or punishing mands, reinforcing negative mands, or over-reinforcement of mands.

Where to Start Mand Training for a Nonverbal Child

Given the importance of manding to typical language and social development, and the strong establishment of manding prior to the other forms of verbal behavior, it seems quite reasonable that language intervention should begin with mand training for a child who is nonverbal. The other early skills (vocal and motor imitation, receptive language, matching, and naming) are certainly important, but clearly not as important as a functioning mand repertoire for a nonverbal child. If a child has some of these other repertoires, these skills can facilitate mand acquisition (e.g., echoic and motor imitation), but without direct training it is unlikely that manding will emerge from these other repertoires (Hall & Sundberg, 1987; Twyman, 1992). Training designed to advance these other skills can occur concurrently with mand training, if a child can already perform them (see below).

The most critical aspect of mand training is the fact that the response needs to be under the functional control of what is currently motivating to the child. Therefore, mand training can only occur when the relevant motivating operation (MO) is strong, that is, when the child actually wants the targeted item or activity. For example, if a child demonstrates an MO for watching bubbles by reaching for the bubbles, then smiling and laughing as he pops the bubbles in the air, the timing is probably right to teach him a mand for bubbles. When the child is no longer interested in bubbles (motivation is lost) mand training for bubbles is over, and the search for new motivators begins (see below for more detail on adding new words). Another complication of mand training is that different words (i.e., differentresponse forms) need to be established and brought under the control of different MO. Vocal words are of course the most common response form, but sign language, pictures, or written words can also be used. The current chapter will focus on the use of speech as a response form, while the following chapter will describe procedures for using the alternatives to speech.

Selecting the First Words

The first words that are chosen for mand training need to be carefully selected. First, there are several words that should NOT be selected as the first words to teach (Table 5-2). Under no circumstances, should the first mand targeted consist of words such as More, Mine, Please, Yes, or Pointing. These responses may be acquired quickly because they are followed by a wide variety of reinforcers and become a generalized mand. The response becomes equal to I want something, but if the item is not present (e.g., the child is in a car and says More) the listener cannot reinforce the mand. In addition, these types of mands are very hard to eliminate once they become strong, and they compete with the development of new mands. Pointing is slightly different and may have advantages for some children. Typical children point frequently as a form of manding. Often this behavior is shaped by providing a choice situation and can be helpful in early manding. Pointing may also be useful for a child who would benefit from a type of picture communication system (see chapter 6). However, pointing has the same disadvantages as More and Please in that a successful mand cannot occur in the absence of the item, and rarely is the point (mand) related to one single item (i.e., a generalized mand). Also, it becomes very difficult to move past pointing and teach a specific word related to each form of motivation. Therefore, when selecting which mands should be taught first, pointing should be avoided as a mand to directly teach. Even if a child comes to the intervention program with a reasonably functional pointing repertoire as a form of manding (but not related to a picture system), soon the focus will need to be shifted to teaching specific words for specific motivators.

Table 5-3

Words for initial mand training that should be avoided if possible

______

Words that are related to a variety of motivators (e.g., More, Please, Mine, Yes, Pointing)

Words that are related to motivators from general categories (e.g., Eat, Drink, Play, Toys)

Words for removing an aversive (e.g., Break, All done, Mine, No, Go play)

Words that are related to items that are hard to deliver (e.g., Swimming, Bike ride)

Words that are related to items that are hard to remove (e.g., Gum, Outside)

Words that are related to politeness (e.g., Please, Thank you)

______

Words that are related to general categories such as Eat, Drink, Toy, and Play are also problematic in that a number of motivators become related to one response form. For example, Play can be related to jumping, running, self-stimulation, toys, escape from the session, and so on. For some children this type of mand may be appropriate in that one or two mands may be a significant development for a child. However, ultimately it is important that a child acquire specific words for specific items. The problems with mands that are related to a whole class of items, are similar to those described above, in that a single response form may not provide a listener with sufficient information as to exactly what functions as reinforcement for a child at that particular moment. For example, the mand Eat does not let the listener know if a cookie, sandwich, fruit cup, or pop tart is currently motivating. This situation often involves a guessing game on the part of adults, and a delay to the actual delivery of the reinforcer. It is also not uncommon for this situation to evoke negative behaviors. Single class mands may also be hard to change once they have become firmly established in a child’s repertoire.

Another category of mands to avoid in early training are mands related to terminating interaction or tasks, such as All done, Break, Go play or No. These mands may be acquired quickly because they terminate an aversive motivator, but they may directly compete with early attempts to teach a child the important skills he needs. Many children will begin to start saying these words earlier and earlier in a training session, often to the point where they may mand, for example, Break before even presenting the first training trial. On the other hand, for some children who are very difficult learners, it may be possible to establish a first mand as a removal of an aversive stimulus, rather than to obtain a positive stimulus, but this procedure requires careful analysis, intervention, and supervision. Given the choice of developing mands that allow adults to deliver good things to a child, or removing bad things (which often consists of the adult and their related demands), a much stronger relationship can emerge with a child due to the pairing with the delivery of positive reinforcement. When mands to remove aversive (negative reinforcement) are strong in a child’s repertoire, these verbal behaviors often represent major language barriers that must be analyzed and ameliorated as soon as possible (see Chapter 3).

Words that are related to items and activities that are simply too cumbersome to deliver, or are hard to remove,should also be avoided as first mands to teach. For example, a child may be highly motivated by going swimming, but the delivery of swimming as a reinforcer is cumbersome. It can only be delivered once (coming in and out of a pool frequently can become quite aversive), thus is hard to use as a reinforcer to shape a specific behavior (not enough trials). However, as always, an individual analysis of a particular child may reveal that Swimming can be used successfully as a first mand. Certain food items may be hard to consume or remove (e.g., gum). Certain toys may also be hard to remove in order to conduct a sufficient number of training trials, especially if a child has a long history of play with the item in a certain way such as fully assembling a train set. A final category of words to avoid involves those related to social politeness such as Please and Thank you. One simply needs to observe how difficult it is to teach typically developing children to emit these words under the correct circumstances. When they are taught to children with severe language delays they simply become a generalized mand, and have little to do with politeness.