Jayden Case Study: Verbal Behavior

Verbal Behavior Verbal behavior is an important indicator of the growth and development of a child. It is defined as a behavior reinforced by listeners. Fisher (2021) noted that this behavior entails vocal and non-vocal aspects of language development. Therapists utilize different tools to assess language development in young people. For instance, these professionals use the VB-MAPP in persons with language problems associated with an autistic spectrum disorder. The areas addressed by the VB-MAPP are milestones, transitions, IEP goals, support skills, barriers, and task analysis. This test is performed in all settings with autistic children including special schools, hospitals, and homes. The verbal behaviors assessed with the VB-MAPP include Mand, tact, imitation, echoic, social play and interverbal behavior. The information gathered with this tool enables therapists to measure verbal behavior, guide treatment interventions, and evaluate the treatment progress.

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2 This paper investigates the verbal behavior of a 2-year-old child who presented wsith language and motor milestone delays. The child started to walk properly at 18 months. He also demonstrates problems in echoing sounds and words. The child’s parents reported that he demonstrates ten total mands when making requests for something even though his word approximations are hard to understand. A board-certified behavior analyst performed the child’s milestone assessment. This assessment helped generate information on his baseline skills.

Strengths Although the child has a significant deficit in various skills, he shows remarkable strength in tacting, manding, and playing. The child is also slowly developing skills in reading and math which are relevant skills for his age. In playing, the child shows an ability to bring together toys that have multiple components. In manding skills, the child demonstrates an ability to band for five others to emit varying actions necessary to complete and enjoy the desired activity. Unfortunately, the child cannot mand for more than twenty missing items. In such instances, he has to use prompts. Therapists recommend that when children are learning to mand for verbs and nouns, they should be encouraged to engage in these activities often (Casey & Carter, 2016). Therefore, the focus, in this case, should be to increase the child’s manding skills.

It is necessary to ensure that mands containing nouns and verbs are reinforced. The child also expresses some ability in tacting skills. He can tact colors, shapes, and functions of five different objects even when these objects are provided in mixed order. However, the child lacks n some level-two skills such as tacting 200 or more verbs and nouns. At two years of age, language development should be typified by acquiring a new tact every few days. Further, the child should show heightened focus on the tacts of verbs and nouns.

Deficits

3 Jayden demonstrates deficits in different areas of verbal behavior such as interverbal skills, linguistics, group skills, and classroom routines. Notably, several areas, including LRFFC, VPMTS, and echoic skills, have not been assessed. The linguistic milestone enables therapists to assess the quality of a child’s articulation without echoic prompts. It also indicates articulation quality when the listener cannot access the item tacted (Casey & Carter, 2016). In the case study, the child expresses difficulties in developing a total listener vocabulary of hundred words.

However, he is starting to develop some early interverbal skills.

Nonetheless, his verbal behavior is still not functional for him. Casey and Carter (2016) noted that the purpose of developing some simple verbal stimulus control and early intraverbal behavior is to break verbal responding without tact sources of control and echoic prompts.

Jayden expressed the ability to complete ten different questions using the “fill in the blank spaces” approach. The purpose of these group skills is to create the base for instructional control and adherence to classroom routines (COON, 2020). Although Jayden can sit at the table without expressing negative behavior for a considerable time, further development is necessary.

Milestone Goals Although children are different, milestone goals are essential for determining if the child is developing normally. Verbal behavior milestones serve as guides to normal language development (Casey & Carter, 2016). Below are some of the milestone goals achieved by Jayden. The first milestone is making eye contact at least five times every thirty minutes. Eye contact, as highlighted by COON (2020), is a type of mand skill. Jayden will also respond to his name five times. He will perform four different motor actions such as clapping, hopping, and clapping on command without prompts. He will imitate gross motor movements with prompts.

He will also express his ability to vocalize fifteen different words and phrases with appropriate

4 rhythm and intonation. He will match different objects including pictures that are presented in a disorderly manner.

Further, he will respond to a single verbal prompt and put away toys and other personal items, and sit on a table. He will show an excellent ability to transition between classroom activities with a single gesture or verbal prompt. On command, Jayden will tact ten upper case letters. He will also mand to peer spontaneously. He will tact ten different actions when asked.

He will also mand for twenty different missing objects without prompts.

The most important to prioritize for the child are interverbal skills, listener skills, and group skills. The child expresses significant gaps in level 1 and early level 2 listener skills. Some important group and listener skills that need strengthening for this child are maintaining eye contact, transitioning in group activities, and responding to name.

Social Significance Development milestones goals are significant aspects of development. They demonstrate a child’s ability to learn, speak, participate in different activities and interact with other people at their pace. Therapists use these milestones to determine areas of strengths and weakness in a child besides developing a treatment plan that suits the child’s needs (COON, 2020). The milestone goals identified for Jayden are appropriate for his age and deficits. These goals create a platform for developing an intervention to address developmental delays that prevent the child from actively participating in social and classroom activities (Vivanti & Pellecchia, 2020). For instance, Jayden exemplifies problems in echoing words and sounds. The milestone goal identified for this challenge is to vocalize words and phrases with appropriate rhythm and intonation. The milestone goals also provide therapists with crucial information for developing socially significant skills (Vivanti & Pellecchia, 2020). In Jayden’s case, the intervention will

5 help increase his ability to mand spontaneously to other children, which is an important social activity.

Splinter Skills Splinter skills are defined as skills disconnected from their original purpose and context (Clark, 2016). Therapists note that these skills may not be particularly beneficial in real-world scenarios as they represent just a fraction of the meaningful set of skills. Children with autistic spectrum disorder are more likely to exhibit splinter skills than other children (Clark, 2016).

These children exhibit splinter skills in memory, math, sensory sensitivity, athletic ability, hyperplexia and computer ability. A child may excel in a certain skill but be poor in other domains. The problematic areas are often overlooked in such situations (Clark, 2016). In the current case study, the child’s strengths are visible in manding, tacting and playing. However, he is weaker in other areas such as echoic skills that should be well developed at 32 months.

Creating intervention goals can help the child improve on the weak skills to match his competence level.

Conclusion Development varies from one child to another. Whereas some children achieve the target milestones in time, others may exhibit delays in achieving these milestones. Verbal behaviors represent a significant element of language development. Therapists use the VB-MAPP to assess verbal behavior in children with developmental disorders such as autism. The tool helps to identify the strengths and weaknesses in a child’s verbal behavior. The intervention for a child with delays in language development should focus on areas where deficits are identified.

6 References Casey, L. B., & Carter, S. L. (2016). Applied behavior analysis in early childhood education: an introduction to evidence-based interventions and teaching strategies. Routledge.

Clark, T. (2016). Exploring giftedness and autism: A study of a differentiated educational program for autistic savants. Routledge.

COON, D., (2020). Introduction To Psychology: Gateways to mind and behavior. Cengage Learning.

Fisher, W. (2021). Handbook of Applied Behavior Analysis, Second Edition. Guilford Publications.

Vivanti, G., & Pellecchia, M. (2020). Applied behavior analytic approaches to early intervention for children with autism. In Clinical Guide to Early Interventions for Children with Autism (pp. 79-91). Springer, Cham.