Behavior analysts are concerned with developing strong client-therapist relationships. One challenge to the development of such relationships may be a reliance on technical language that stakeholders find unpleasant. Previous research suggests that some behavior analysis terms evoke negative emotional responses. However, most relevant research was…

Delayed consequences have important academic implications for younger children. Conceptualized within behavior analysis as delay discounting, researchers have examined verbal behavior interventions to improve tolerance to delayed outcomes. In this preliminary study, the correlation between verbal repertoires and tolerance to delayed consequences…

Individuals with deaf-blindness and co-occurring diagnoses, such as intellectual and developmental disabilities, may experience difficulty with independence, specifically with communication. One behavior-analytic procedure that may be useful for increasing independence and teaching communication to this population is the behavior-chain…

The form of a verbal response allows for reinforcement mediation and language transmission across cultures. Reinforcement, in turn, plays a decisive role in learning verbal forms. The present work addresses methodological limitations of previous studies, providing further evidence of the role of automatic reinforcement in achieving parity with…

The language of behavior analysis is precise in the sense that it focuses attention on functional relations between behavior and the environment that are extended in time. However, to non-behavior analysts, behavior-analytic terms and explanations are difficult to understand and awkward sounding. Evidence suggests that this has had deleterious…

Skinner (1957) differentiated the roles of the speaker and the listener in a verbal encounter. Although not extensively emphasized, Skinner suggested an individual often behaves verbally even when responding as a listener. Children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often display the absence of important, and basic verbal repertoires…

Members (behaviors) of a response class are equivalent in that they produce the same functional reinforcer. Oftentimes, some members of a response class occur at higher rates than others. This can be problematic when the members that occur at high rates are socially inappropriate (e.g., self-injury, aggression, or disruption). The participant in…

Errorless learning and error correction procedures are commonly used when teaching tact relations to individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Research has demonstrated the effectiveness of both procedures, as well as compared them. The majority of these studies have been completed through the use of single-subject experimental…

In the present essay, commemorating the 60th anniversary of the publication of B. F. Skinner's "Verbal Behavior", I stand by and defend the judgment I expressed in my article "The Long Goodbye: Why B. F. Skinner's 'Verbal Behavior' Is Alive and Well on the 50th Anniversary of Its Publication" (2008c)--that Skinner's…

More is known about how to reduce challenging behavior with functional communication training (FCT) than how to mitigate its resurgence during or following a course of treatment. Research suggests reinforcing mand variability during FCT may mitigate the resurgence of challenging behavior, but validated procedures for reinforcing mand variability…

Most verbal behavior curricula for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) focus on teaching multiple mands during the early stages of training (e.g., picture exchange communication system; Bondy & Frost, 1994). However, few, if any, of those curricula train children with ASD to differentially mand only for reinforcers that are reasonable…

Jack Michael was an early enthusiast for what is now called applied behavior analysis. His many seminal contributions were through early publications in applied behavior analysis and the work of the students he trained (e.g., T. Ayllon, M. M. Wolf). His close mentorship of students earned him acclaim as a teacher along with his many theoretical…

We reviewed 12 studies in which the researcher taught problem-solving strategies, such as self-questioning and visual imagining, to children and adolescents with and without disabilities to facilitate the learning of math, spelling, play/social, and communication skills. We analyzed these studies in terms of types of problem-solving strategies,…

"Naming" has been defined as a generalized operant that combines speaker and listener behaviors within the individual. The purpose of this paper is to reintroduce the concept of naming and its subtypes, "common" and "intraverbal", distinguish it from other terms such as the tact relation, and discuss the role of…

"In the late 1950's, Jack Michael, a bright but irritating young psychology instructor, moved from the Universities of Kansas to Houston to Arizona State. Along the way he befriended two nontraditional students, protected them through their Ph.D. programs, and turned them loose on the world: Teodoro Ayllon…and Montrose Wolf…" (Risley,…