Verbal Operants
By: a • Research Paper • 559 Words • May 3, 2015 • 970 Views
Verbal Operants
Verbal Operants
Student: Chris
Antecedents | Behavior | Consequence |
Teacher asks “What do you want?” | Replies “Book” | Teacher praise and reinforcement of item (book). |
Chris points and says “paper” | Chris tries to take paper. | Teacher ignores and pushes paper away. |
Teacher ignores and pushes paper away | Chris says “paper” as he slaps himself 2 times on face. | Teacher says “try again.” |
Teacher says “try again.” | Chris asks for “grapes.” | Teacher praise and reinforcement of item (grapes) |
Chris is a five year old boy who is able to mand with one word for the things that he wants or needs. He can follow basic requests if instructed. Even though he can mand for items using one word, it can often be misunderstood. In the video, Chris manded for paper. While he was manding for paper, he actually reached out to grab the paper as he was manding for it. When the teacher ignored the response he then went on to exhibit self-injurious behaviors such as slapping himself. After he did his SIB a total of 2 times, he asked for grapes appropriately and then received his grapes as his reward.
Chris manded for items a total of four times throughout this short video. He only received the items that he manded for two times because he was asking for the items appropriately. The other two times that he manded, he exhibited inappropriate behavior such as reaching for the item without first asking in the right way and also when he slapped himself on the face.
When Chris slapped himself on the face that was considered a self-injurious behavior. It could be very possible that Chris is showing this behavior as a stimulator for himself because of frustration. He only showed the behavior when the teacher did not respond to his inappropriate mand. It was obvious that he became a little frustrated because he was not being understood. Even though Chris is able to mand a couple of words, he still seems to lack proper communication skills. His lack of communication skills could have be associated to his self-injurious behavior.