vb3

ABAI workshop

Generative Verbal Behavior (GVB) is the ability to understand and produce novel verbal behavior in the absence of direct instruction. This ability is key to the flexibility and complexity of language and should, therefore, be a core goal of any program that aims to train language skills. However, achieving GVB has been extremely difficult for a large number of children with ASD. Relational Frame Theory (RFT) may constitute an important resource for the training of GVB for individuals designing EIBI instructional programs.

RFT is a behavior analytic approach to human language and cognition that conceptualizes generalized or derived relational responding as the core process underlying these phenomena. This theoretical approach also allows an important expansion of Skinner's influential analysis of verbal behavior. This workshop will demonstrate how RFT concepts can be incorporated into EIBI programs with the design of instructional program sequences for early to advanced learners.

The first part of the workshop will involve a brief demonstration of the core concept of GVB. This will be followed by a presentation on RFT as a behavior analytic account of this phenomenon. The second part will provide discussion of specific instructional programs and their sequencing to facilitate GVB, including analysis of the correspondence between Skinnerian verbal behavior programs (specifically those using the VB-MAPP) and core RFT skills, and an introduction to the TARPA (Training and Assessment of Relational Precursors and Abilities), a computer-based protocol for systematic assessment and training of relational framing skills (participants will receive an electronic copy).