EFFECT OF INTENSIVE TACT INSTRUCTION ON SPONTANEOUS VERBAL BEHAVIOR IN THREE CHILDREN WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITY

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The present study is a partial replication of the intensive tact instruction tactic, in three students with developmental disability. The dependent variable was tacts emitted in Non Instructional Settings (NIS) prior and after the mastery of sets of 5 different stimuli. The NIS included the toy area of the classroom, lunchtime, and group activity. All probe sessions were conducted daily for a cumulative 15 minutes, 5 minutes in each NIS for three different days. Intensive tact instruction involved increasing the tact instructions to 100‐tact learn units above the daily learn units students were receiving daily. The results showed a significant improvement of vocal verbal operants (tacts and mands) emitted by the students in natural environment.

Keywords

• intensive tact instruction
• tact
• mand
• disability
• verbal behavior