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Potential benefits of mand programming. Motivation for communication Motivation for approaching listeners Condition listeners as reinforcers Can be transferred to other operants Students can learn to respond to echoic and motor models. Targets before/during/after mands. But….
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Potential benefits of mand programming • Motivation for communication • Motivation for approaching listeners • Condition listeners as reinforcers • Can be transferred to other operants • Students can learn to respond to echoic and motor models
But… • “Manding machines” • Scrolling • Learned helplessness
Squeaky wheels • Students who mand too frequently, or too repetitiously, or without responsiveness to their teacher pose challenges. • Students who never mand spontaneously are a challenge, as well, but that wheel isn’t “squeaky”….yet…
Brief treatment on the “squeak-less wheels” • After the first few reinforcer exchanges, sit back and wait for tiny indications that your student wants another reinforcer. These tiny indications are initiations, and you can eventually shape them into attention mands.
More on spontaneity • Stay ready to capture opportunities to reinforce spontaneous behaviors, and don’t pummel your student with prompts for better responses. Rhiannon on the way up to the playground
How do we treat the “squeaky wheel?” • Functional Behavior Assessments (FBA’s) are attempts to determine the functions of behaviors. An FBA should show that the behavior is maintained by tangible gain. This will confuse some analysts and teachers, who will say “but I’m giving him the reinforcers”.
“Accessing Tangibles” also requires… -Tolerating delays -Tolerating others being in control of reinforcers (a number of things may challenge a student’s rigid expectations)* -Tolerating prompts -Responding to prompts -Tolerating/fixing others’ confusion
It comes down to just a few things • Most importantly, even from the first day of mand training, never reinforce whiney, pushy mands!!! • (*Yes, there are exceptions to everything, including this strong recommendation, but those are few and I don’t want to confuse you with them.)
Broadly… • Manding is an opportunity for your learner. Make him prove that he wants to mand. Make him behave well enough to sustain your attention so that he can mand. • Mands require “listeners”, so you can use your attention as a reinforcer, and you can withdraw it following unwanted behaviors. This is what we’ve done with Cody.
Have no fear • Don’t be afraid to let a mand attempt end in failure. Loosely, teachers sometimes err by taking more responsibility than their student. Remember, your student is supposed to WANT to mand. It’s in HIS interest. • If motivation is sufficient, your student will come back to you and try again, and he’ll eventually get it right.
Tantrums can be wonderful! • I’m just over-correcting for the typical teacher fear, or shame, of evoking student tantrums. If your student has tantrums every day for 6 months, feel free to be ashamed. • But, a well-treated tantrum results in a student learning better patience in manding, self-calming, and decreases in the future rate of problem behavior
Digging Deeper • Whiney mands are frequently reinforced simply because the listener doesn’t notice the whining. Frequently, this is because the top priority is vocabulary development. • Data is generally gathered on words “used”, prompts required, and mand frequency.
Teacher Training Those 2 data sheets CAN capture: -rate of each mand -types of prompts required -responsiveness to prompts *Many teachers fail to recognize student non-responsiveness or resistance.
What data would you record? • Steve and Terry video/role play….several failed prompts and eventual success
Healthy Mand Instruction • OK, so you know that tantrums are ok, and that you should gather thorough data on manding. Let’s dive into the teaching. • Remember that we should be able to use our attention as a reinforcer. That fact binds all of the following teaching strategies…
Is this instruction correct? • Role plays • 1. • 2. • 3.
The next steps • So, your learner is manding at a nice rate, and doing so appropriately. Now, you can follow some mands with: • Contextually-relevant demands (describe Will’s “cheese” sequence, as related to dealing with learner responsiveness) • “natural” delays • “no”
Summary and inspiration • As wonderful and critical as mand repertoires are, mands seem to do more harm than good with some students. If correctly identified, manding problems can be remediated. • As always, teaching is the solution. You can be the envy of the neighborhood by teaching mands correctly in the first place!