ABC’s of Verbal Behavior
Let’s talk about… talking!
Ok, ok, not just talking. Because verbal behavior encompasses several things other than vocally speaking. Verbal behavior includes any communication involving a listener including speaking, signing, exchanging pictures, pointing, writing, typing, gesturing, etc. It also includes crying or displaying other problem behaviors in an attempt to obtain attention or tangibles, or to escape unwanted activities. So that side eye you might receive from asking your child to put down their phone? Verbal behavior.
Understanding the components of verbal behavior and being able to categorize them is necessary when assisting to teach someone to expand their verbal repertoire. In Applied Behavior Analysis, we use the verbal behavior approach to enhance one’s ability to use functional language. That is, language is treated as a behavior that can be shaped and reinforced while careful attention is paid not only to what a child is saying but why he or she is using language.
What are the functions of behavior? Sensory, Escape, Attention, (Access to) Tangibles (SEAT). Sensory, or automatic reinforcement, are usually things that feel good by doing them. Such as scratching an itch! Escape is when we get away from or avoid an unwanted task (like hiding under the covers when you’re not ready to get up for work). Attention is sometimes obvious but also can be very subtle. From yelling “hey look at me!” to that sly subtweet you’re hoping will get you a text back. Lastly, tangibles! We work for money and my nieces and nephews fight over access to their toys.
So let’s take a second to think about what verbal behavior the person in our life with communication delays might have. It can often feel disheartening or worrisome if we have a child, work with a client, or are a person who isn’t/didn’t hit milestones at the same time as typically developing peers. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t great skills present. It’s important to focus on improving and identifying which modes of communication actually fit each individual person best. Are there gestures? Signs? Vocal approximations? AAC? Side eyes? That’s all verbal behavior! No one form of communication is more valid than another. What’s most important is making sure that the person in our lives has the ability to communicate in the way that works best for them.
Ok so now let’s get into the ABCs. Not just a great song to practice some vocal verbal behavior..
Instead we’re talking about the antecedents, behaviors, and consequences of verbal behavior.
Antecedent - what happens just prior to the behavior occurring
Behavior - the behavior right after the antecedent
Consequence - what comes immediately after the behavior
In the verbal behavior approach, remember that we are looking at the function, the why, for the behavior that just happened. To do so, we break it down into these 3 components. Here’s an example,
Antecedent - Mom asks Johnny to hang up his coat
Behavior - He throws himself to the floor and flails around
Consequence - Mom turns on TV for Johnny and hangs up the coat herself
Now Johnny didn’t say anything, but he sure communicated how he felt about hanging up his coat.
Using the verbal behavior model, we focus on a few specific technical types. These include: mands, listener responding, echoics, tacts, and intraverbals. Let’s break down what these technical terms mean.
Mands are a request, like demand, command ect. We mand for items, information, and attention. Basically the way we get what we want. This again ranges from yelling “Hey give me a cookie!” to that one side eye look between best friends that you know means spill the tea. Teaching mands to people with communication delays typically comes first. When we have the ability to ask for things we want, or ask for things we don’t like to go away, it often leads to a decrease in behavior we’d like to see less of. For example, a toddler stops screaming when they want attention when they instead learn to say “Mom, mom, mom, mommy, mommy, mom!” Usually..
Listener responding, also known as receptive language, is often following directions or receptively identifying things. For example, if I ask you “Where are my keys?!” as I’m frantically searching the cluttered kitchen table, you are able to point to the key ring, where I leave them every single day.
Tacts are a label of something you see, hear, smell, taste or touch. Tacts are controlled by seeing, hearing, smelling, (ect) the thing you are labeling. It has to be present to be a tact. We can tact all sorts of things. Objects, pictures, actions, emotions, features, functions, categories. For example, as I am on the verge of tears because I am now 15 minutes late because I couldn’t find my keys (on the key ring), you could say “You look a bit.. stressed” and that would be a tact! When teaching those with language delays, start with common things in their environment. Learning to tact their toys or furniture in your house is much more useful than learning to tact things like skyscrapers, engine blocks, or fax machines.
Echoics are vocal imitations. If I say, “Say cheeeeeese” while taking your picture, you say… “Cheese”. You just imitated, or echoed, me saying cheese and also gave me an adorable smile. Echoics are the simplest form of verbal behavior and often used to prompt more communication. When trying to increase vocal behavior in others, we may use an echoic to prompt. How many times have you had to tell a small impatient child to ‘say please’? Well, you were using an echoic prompt.
Intraverbals are a communication exchange between two or more people. This could be things like filling in the blank (“Ready, set….” “Go”), answering questions (“Where are my keys?!” “The same place they were yesterday when you couldn’t find them..”), social exchanges (“How are you?”, “Great!”), or responding to a statement (“I’m so tired.” “Hi tired, I’m a dad joke”). When beginning to teach intraverbals, the most complex aspect of verbal behavior, we start simple. Often with filling in nursery rhymes.
Keep in mind that a person does not need to vocally speak to engage in verbal behavior. If you point to a picture of a star when I sing “Twinkle twinkle little…..” that is still an intraverbal. Our goal is to increase the ability to communicate wants, needs, feelings, hopes, dreams, ect in any way possible. We do this by paying attention to the ABCs of verbal behavior, identifying the function, and modeling the most effective form of communication.
Most importantly, don’t forget to reinforce communication! If your toddler struggles to say bubbles, but they give you an approximation of ‘bub’ to mand for bubbles, blow alllllll the bubbles! Especially in the beginning when communicating is an area of focus, you have to reinforce the attempts and successes to make sure they happen more frequently in the future. If your child quietly mands for your attention and you can’t hear because you’re frantically searching for your keys, they will likely revert to the communication style that gives them access to your attention (high pitched screaming). And that’s when you can remember to use your echoic prompt “say MOM” to shape the functional communication you’d like to reinforce instead.
