The Establishment of Incidental Bidirectional Naming through Multiple Exemplar Instruction: a Systematic Replication.

Although many neurotypical children acquire untaught word-object relations incidentally from naturally occurring environmental experiences, many children with and without developmental disabilities require specific intervention. This study examined the effects of rotating listener (match and point) and speaker (tact and intraverbal-tact) responses with added echoics during multiple exemplar instruction (MEI) with training sets of stimuli on the acquisition of Incidental Bidirectional Naming (Inc-BiN). Listener-speaker MEI procedures reported in Hawkins et al. European Journal of Behavior Analysis, 10(2), 265-273, (2009) were replicated with procedural modification, new instructors, and new participants (four preschoolers with and without disabilities). The listener-speaker MEI with added echoics consisted of rotating across four response operants: match-with-echoics, point-with-echoics, tact, and intraverbal-tact responses. We measured the establishment of Inc-BiN through the number of the correct untaught listener (point) and untaught speaker (intraverbal-tact) responses for untaught stimuli during the listener-speaker MEI with added echoics. We found that listener-speaker MEI with added echoics was effective in establishing Inc-BiN for 3 of 4 participants.

A Comparison of Stimulus Set Sizes: Systematic Replication with Operant Analysis Acquisition Criteria.

We conducted a systematic replication of Kodak et al.'s Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 53(1), 265-283 (2020) and Vladescu et al.'s Behavior Analysis in Practice, 14(1), 193-197 (2021) experiments on the effects of stimulus set sizes on skill acquisition. The researchers manipulated the stimulus set sizes by teaching 3, 6, and 12 sight words simultaneously during learn unit instruction. Researchers taught participants until the participant's responding reached the acquisition criterion for 12 different sight words per set size condition. The acquisition criterion was set for an individual operant, whereby when accuracy met criterion for a single sight word, that sight word was replaced in the following session. The results showed that the set-size-3 was more efficient in producing criterion-level responding during acquisition than the set-size-6, and -12, which was consistent with Vladescu et al.'s findings. However, the set-size-12 reliably produced the highest maintenance levels for all participants. The definition of "effectiveness" based on acquisition or maintenance was discussed.

More complex incidental bidirectional naming results from exposure alone.

Incidental bidirectional naming (Inc-BiN) has been defined as a verbal developmental cusp whereby children demonstrate learning the names of things as listener and speaker as a function of observation alone. Stimulus characteristics have been found to affect performance in tests for Inc-BiN. To further explore this effect, Experiment 1 compared untaught listener and speaker responses for novel familiar-type versus novel nonfamiliar-type stimuli with 20 first-grade students following naming experiences in which the participants observed each visual stimulus five times while hearing its name. Participants performed significantly better with familiar-type than with nonfamiliar-type stimuli. Experiment 2 examined the effects of a repeated-probe intervention to induce Inc-BiN with nonfamiliar-type stimuli. Participants were six first-grade students who demonstrated incidental unidirectional naming (i.e., acquired names as listener from exposure alone). Implementation of the intervention was staggered across dyads of participants in a multiple-probe, simultaneous-treatments design. One participant in each dyad received the intervention with nonfamiliar-type stimuli only and the other with both nonfamiliar- and familiar-type stimuli. Pre- and postintervention Inc-BiN probes with stimuli not included in the intervention suggested both conditions were effective in establishing Inc-BiN for nonfamiliar-type stimuli. These findings have implications for understanding the mechanisms underlying Inc-BiN.

Verbal behavior development theory and relational frame theory: Reflecting on similarities and differences.

Relational frame theory and verbal behavior development theory are two behavior-analytic perspectives on human language and cognition. Despite sharing reliance on Skinner's analysis of verbal behavior, relational frame theory and verbal behavior development theory have largely been developed independently, with initial applications in clinical psychology and education/development, respectively. The overarching goal of the current paper is to provide an overview of both theories and explore points of contact that have been highlighted by conceptual developments in both fields. Verbal behavior development theory research has identified how behavioral developmental cusps make it possible for children to learn language incidentally. Recent developments in relational frame theory have outlined the dynamic variables involved across the levels and dimensions of arbitrarily applicable relational responding, and we argue for the concept of mutually entailed orienting as an act of human cooperation that drives arbitrarily applicable relational responding. Together these theories address early language development and children's incidental learning of names. We present broad similarities between the two approaches in the types of functional analyses they generate and discuss areas for future research.

Arranging peer-tutoring instruction to promote inference-making.

Peer-mediated instructional strategies (e.g., peer tutoring) have been effective at teaching academic responses in previous research. This study extended the literature by programming for inference-making, or derived relations. Across two experiments, researchers investigated the use of peer tutoring and inference-making to teach fraction-pictogram-percentage relations to 8 third-grade participants. In each experiment, participants served as both tutors and tutees in homogenous, reciprocal tutoring sessions. In Experiment 1, one tutor taught fraction (A)-pictogram (B) relations and the other tutor taught percentage (C)-pictogram (B) relations. In Experiment 2, each tutor taught one half of each of the relations. Results of both experiments demonstrated that the tutors learned all relations they taught, the tutees learned all relations they were taught, and all participants derived equivalence relations and demonstrated transfer of functions for comparative relations. A comparison of the two experiments suggests instructors should consider the difficulty of training relations when they design peer-tutoring instruction that engineers inference-making.

The Effect of the Establishment of Conditioned Reinforcement for Reading Content on Second-Graders' Reading Achievement.

There remains a gap in the current literature as to how to reliably measure and increase students' "voluntary reading," based on research suggesting a relation between reading amount and reading achievement. We tested the effect of the establishment of conditioned reinforcement for reading via a collaborative shared reading (CSR) conditioning procedure on eight 2nd-grade students with and without learning disabilities and developmental disorders. This conditioning procedure was composed of opportunities for reciprocal reading and collaboration on comprehension and vocabulary tasks related to the reading content, such that partners (teacher-participant or participant-participant) were required to work together. We utilized a combined small-n experimental-control simultaneous-treatment design with a single-case multiple-probe design nested within each small group in order to compare within- and between-group differences for participants in the CSR procedure with a teacher or peer. All participants for whom conditioned reinforcement for reading was established (n = 7) demonstrated gains in reading achievement after a maximum of nine sessions (412 min), with grade-level increases between 0.2 and 2.5 on measures of reading comprehension and between 0.3 and 3.1 on measures of vocabulary. The students in the teacher-yoked condition (n = 3) demonstrated more significant gains in their average increases in achievement, although the peer-yoked procedure was also effective and possibly more viable in a classroom setting. These results suggest that a CSR procedure with a teacher or peer should be considered as a means of increasing the reading achievement of early elementary students via increases in the reinforcement value of reading.

Mastery of Echoics in Chinese Establishes Bidirectional Naming in Chinese for Preschoolers with Naming in English.

The onset of the verbal behavior developmental cusp of bidirectional naming (BiN) in a second language makes it possible for monolingual English-speaking children to learn names of things in a second language incidentally. We conducted 2 experiments to identify why monolingual English-speaking children cannot demonstrate BiN in another language when they demonstrated BiN in their native language. In Experiment I, using a group design (n = 32 preschoolers), we identified Chinese speech sounds that monolingual English-speaking children with BiN in English for familiar stimuli could not echo. In Experiment II, using a multiple-probe design, we investigated if mastery of echoics with the speech sounds identified in Experiment I would result in BiN in Chinese with 6 participants from Experiment I. The dependent variable was untaught responses to the probe stimuli presented following the naming experience based on the echoic stimuli from Experiment I. The results showed that echoic training was functionally related to the establishment of BiN in the second language. It appeared that the emission of accurate echoics might be the key to second-language BiN and that emergent correspondence between producing and hearing that occurs with the mastery of the echoic responding may be the source of reinforcement.

Is the Source of Reinforcement for Naming Multiple Conditioned Reinforcers for Observing Responses?

Naming refers to the incidental acquisition of word-object relations as listener and speaker without explicit reinforcement. To investigate possible sources of reinforcement for naming, we examined the effects of a procedure for conditioning reinforcement for observing responses on the emergence of naming in children who previously lacked it. The participants were three 5- to 7-year-old children with and without diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder. During the intervention, either visual or auditory stimuli were first conditioned as reinforcers for observing responses. Then, neutral visual or auditory stimuli were paired with the conditioned visual or auditory stimuli until both visual and auditory stimuli acquired reinforcing properties for observing. Following this intervention, the participants demonstrated naming of stimuli that had been used in pretests for naming, as well as on a novel set of stimuli. We observed increases in echoic responding in conjunction with the emergence of naming and conditioned reinforcement for both observing responses. We interpret the data as suggesting that listener and speaker repertoires are joined for naming only when both visual and auditory stimuli reinforce the observing responses of looking and listening simultaneously.

Actions vs. Words: How We Can Learn Both / Acciones vs. Palabras: Cómo Podemos Aprender Ambas

In three experiments we investigated the relation between observing responses and incidental language acquisition by children ages 3 to 5 with and without disabilities. In Experiment I, participants heard the name of an object while observing an accompanying action with the object. The participants consistently acquired the actions associated with the objects, but learned few names. Experiment II compare responses to stimuli presented with and without actions, with the results indicating that the presence of an action hindered rather than facilitated incidental acquisition of names. In Experiment III, we selected participants who acquired listener responses when actions were present, but did not readily acquire the speaker responses. Following a multiple exemplar intervention, participants acquired both speaker and listener responses along with the action responses for novel stimuli. The findings suggest that when children are provided with a specific instructional history, they can acquire multiple benefits from a single language exposure experience.

En tres experimentos se investigó la relación entre respuestas de observación y la adquisición de lenguaje incidental por niños de 3 a 5 años con y sin discapacidad. En el Experimento I, los participantes escucharon el nombre de un objeto mientras observaban una acción que acompañó al objeto. Los participantes consistentemente adquirieron las acciones asociadas con los objetos, pero aprendieron pocos nombres. El Experimento II comparó las respuestas ante estímulos presentes con y sin acciones. Los resultados indicaron que la presencia de una acción dificultó en lugar de facilitar la adquisición incidental de los nombres. En el Experimento III, se seleccionaron participantes que adquirieron respuestas de oyente cuando las acciones estaban presentes, pero que no habían adquirido las respuestas de hablante. Después de una intervención múltiple ejemplificada, los participantes adquirieron tanto las respuestas de oyente como las de hablante conjuntamente con las respuestas de acción para estímulos novedosos. Los resultados sugieren que cuando se provee a los niños con una historia instruccional específica adquieren beneficios múltiples de una sola exposición de experiencia con el lenguaje.

Multiple exemplar instruction and the emergence of generative production of suffixes as autoclitic frames.

We report 2 experiments that tested the effects of multiple exemplar instruction (MEI) across training sets on the emergence of productive autoclitic frames (suffixes) for 6 preschoolers with and without language-based disabilities. We implemented multiple exemplar tact instruction with subsets of stimuli whose "names" contained the suffix "-er" denoting the comparative form of adjectives. Subsets of stimuli included regular, irregular, and contrived tacts containing the target relational autoclitic frame in order to determine if our MEI procedure would induce the abstraction of the frame across all stimulus sets. In the second experiment, additional tasks were introduced to the participants to control for a possible sequence effect. A nonconcurrent multiple probe design was used to evaluate the functional relation between MEI and emergence of untaught tact responses containing the comparative adjective "-er." The results of both experiments showed relations between MEI and novel, untaught tact responses containing the target autoclitic frame; the second experiment showing a functional relation. The results are discussed in terms of environmental sources for productive verbal behavior.

Establishing books as conditioned reinforcers for preschool children as a function of an observational intervention.

We tested the effects of an observational intervention (Greer & Singer-Dudek, 2008) on establishing children's books as conditioned reinforcers using a delayed multiple baseline design. Three preschool students with mild language and developmental delays served as the participants. Prior to the intervention, books did not function as reinforcers for any of the participants. The observational intervention consisted of a situation in which the participant observed a confederate being presented with access to books contingent on correct responses and the participant received nothing for correct responses. After several sessions of this treatment, the previously neutral books acquired reinforcing properties for maintenance and acquisition responses for all three participants.

Effects of conditioning voices as reinforcers for listener responses on rate of learning, awareness, and preferences for listening to stories in preschoolers with autism.

We used a delayed non-concurrent pre- and post-intervention probe design to test the effects of a voice conditioning protocol (VCP) with 3 preschoolers with autism on (a) rate of acquisition of listener curricular objectives, (b) observing voices and the presence of adults across 3 settings, (c) selecting to listen to adults tell stories in free play setting, and (d) the occurrence of stereotypy in the story setting. The VCP conditioned voices as reinforcers for listening to recordings of voices via stimulus-stimulus pairing, which resulted in the children listening to audio recordings of voices in 90% of intervals in 5-min concurrent-operant preference tests. After voices became conditioned reinforcers, all 3 children's learning accelerated; 2 children's observing responses increased in the 3 settings; and 2 children selected to listen to stories and also showed decreased stereotypy in the story setting. The data suggest that conditioned reinforcement for observing responses may be a verbal behavior developmental cusp that acts to accelerate learning that involves listening, and that the cusp may be induced using the VCP.

The emergence of autoclitic frames in atypically and typically developing children as a function of multiple exemplar instruction.

In two experiments, we tested the effect of multiple exemplar instruction (MEI) for training sets on the emergence of autoclitic frames for spatial relations for novel tacts and mands. In Experiment 1, we used a replicated pre- and post-intervention probe design with four students with significant learning disabilities to test for acquisition of four autoclitic frames with novel tacts and mands before and after MEI. The untaught topographies emerged for all participants. In Experiment 2, we used a multiple probe design to test the effects of the MEI procedures on the same responses in four typically developing, bilingual students. The novel usage emerged for all participants. In the latter experiment, the children demonstrated untaught usage of mand or tact frames regardless of whether they were taught to respond in either listener or speaker functions alone or across listener and speaker functions. The findings are discussed in terms of the role of MEI in the formation of abstractions.

Establishing naming in typically developing two-year-old children as a function of multiple exemplar speaker and listener experiences.

Naming is a verbal developmental capability and cusp that allows children to acquire listener and speaker functions without direct instruction (e.g., incidental learning of words for objects). We screened 19 typically developing 2- and 3-year-old children for the presence of Naming for 3-dimensional objects. All 9 3-year-olds had Naming, and 8 of 10 2-year-olds lacked Naming. For the 2-year-old children who lacked Naming, we used multiple-probe designs (2 groups of 4 children) to test the effect of multiple exemplar instruction (MEI) across speaker and listener responses on the emergence of Naming. Prior to the MEI, the children could not emit untaught listener or speaker responses following match-to-sample instruction with novel stimuli, during which they had heard the experimenter tact the stimuli. After MEI with a different set of novel stimuli, the children emitted listener and speaker responses when probed with the original stimuli, in the absence of any further instruction with those stimuli. Seven of 8 children acquired the speaker and listener responses of Naming at 83% to 100% accuracy. We discuss the basic and applied science implications.

A rose by naming: how we may learn how to do it.

Naming appears to be the source of the explosion in language development and involves the integration of the initially separate listener and speaker responses. This integration has a role in the development of reading, writing, and the following and construction of verbal algorithms that make types of complex human behavior possible. Considerable research has investigated the role of Naming in the emergence of derived relations. Recent research has also investigated the emergence of Naming itself. We describe these experiments and the experiences that function to induce Naming. We also describe evidence about preverbal developmental cusps that are foundational to the emergence of Naming and the evidence on its reinforcement sources. The isolation of the role of the environment in the emergence of Naming identifies stimuli that were said to be missing in accounts that were critical of Skinner's (1957) account of verbal behavior. These arguments purported that the phenomenon was not attributable to learning because of the "poverty of the stimulus." Some of the relevant stimuli now appear to be identified.

The emergence of conditioned reinforcement from observation.

We report an experiment in which observations of peers by six 3-5-year-old participants under specific conditions functioned to convert a small plastic disc or, for one participant, a small piece of string, from a nonreinforcer to a reinforcer. Prior to the observational procedure, we compared each participant's responding on (a) previously acquired performance tasks in which the child received either a preferred food item or the disc (string) for correct responses, and (b) the acquisition of new repertoires in which the disc (string) was the consequence for correct responses. Verbal corrections followed incorrect responses in the latter tasks. The results showed that discs and strings did not reinforce correct responses in the performance tasks, but the food items did; nor did the discs and strings reinforce correct responses in learning new repertoires. We then introduced the peer observation condition in which participants engaged in a different performance task in the presence of a peer who also performed the task. A partition blocked the participants from seeing the peers' performance. However, participants could observe peers receiving discs or strings. Participants did not receive discs or strings regardless of their performance. Peer observation continued until the participants either requested discs or strings repeatedly, or attempted to take discs or strings from the peers. Following the peer observation condition, the same performance and acquisition tasks in which participants had engaged prior to observation were repeated. The results showed that the discs and strings now reinforced correct responding for both performance and acquisition for all participants. We discuss the results with reference to research involving nonhuman subjects that demonstrated the observational conditioning of reinforcers.

How kids learn to say the darnedest things: the effect of multiple exemplar instruction on the emergence of novel verb usage.

We report experiments using time-lagged pre- and postintervention designs with (a) 4 first graders with learning delays, and (b) a systematic replication with 3 preschoolers with learning delays. Both experiments tested the effects of multiple exemplar instructional procedures (MEI) on the emergence of untaught past tense emission of novel regular verbs (e.g., jumped derived from jump) and grammatically inaccurate but experimentally correct usage of irregular verbs (e.g., singed derived from sing). Prior to the MEI, none of the children could produce regular or irregular past tense forms to pictures that provided simulated contexts (pictures with backgrounds for past and present tense). MEI provided across the picture contexts for past and present tense used separate training sets of verbs to teach children to form regular past tense. After either 1 or 2 MEI training sets, the children emitted accurate past tense forms of the untaught regular and inaccurate, but experimentally correct irregular verbs. These findings provided an instructional history that resulted in the children's acquisition of past tense for untaught regular past tense verbs and "creative" errors with irregular tenses. Results are discussed in terms of the research on experimentally induced sources for novel verbal behavior and related interpretations.

The induction of naming in children with no prior tact responses as a function of multiple exemplar histories of instruction.

The phenomenon identified as naming is a key stage of language function that is missing in many children with autism and other language delay diagnoses. We identified four children with autism, who, prior to the implementation of this experiment, did not have the naming repertoire (either speaker to listener or listener to speaker) and who had no tact responses for two- or three-dimensional stimuli. Tact training alone did not result in a naming repertoire or echoic-to-tact responses for these students. We then provided multiple exemplar instruction (MEI) across speaker and listener repertoires for a subset of stimuli (the teaching set) that resulted in untaught response components of naming and the capability to acquire naming after learning tacts for subsequent sets of stimuli. We used a delayed multiple-baseline probe design with stimuli counterbalanced across participants. The results showed that for all four students, mastery of tacts alone (the baseline or initial training condition) was not sufficient for the naming or echoic-to-tact repertoires to emerge. Following MEI the naming repertoire emerged for all four students for the initial set of stimuli. In addition, we tested for naming with novel stimuli that were probed prior to the MEI and naming also emerged following tact instruction alone for these sets. The results are discussed in terms of the role of naming in the incidental acquisition of verbal functions as part of the speaker-as-own-listener repertoire.

Novel dictation and intraverbal responses as a function of a multiple exemplar instructional history.

We tested the effect of multiple exemplar instruction (MEI) on acquisition of joint spelling responses, vocal to written and vice versa, for three sets of five words by four kindergarteners with language delays using a delayed multiple probe design. First, students were taught to spell Set 1 as either vocal or written responses (two vocal and two written) and probed on untaught responses. Next students were taught Set 2 using MEI (i.e., alternating responses) and again probed untaught responses for Set 1. Finally, Set 3 was taught in a single response and students were probed on untaught responses. Two students spelled none of Set 1 untaught responses before MEI, while two spelled the words at 60% accuracy or 10% accuracy. After MEI on Set 2, all students spelled untaught responses for Set 1 at 80% to 100% accuracy and Set 3 at 80% to 100% accuracy. The MEI resulted in joint stimulus function such that formerly independent responses came under the same stimulus control. We replicated these results with four other kindergartners with autism who performed academically above their typically developing peers. The results are discussed in terms of Skinner's treatment of the independence of the two verbal operants.