Transcript A Behavioural Approach to Language Assessment and

The Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and
Placement Program (The VB-MAPP)
Mark L. Sundberg,
William A. Galbraith,
&
Mike Miklos
A Brief History of a
Verbal Behavior Assessment
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B. F. Skinner and Fred Keller
Skinner’s analysis of verbal behavior (1957)
Happy 50th Anniversary!
1978
1993
1983
Jack Michael
Teacher of Skinner’s analysis of verbal behavior (starting in 1955)
A Brief History of a
Verbal Behavior Assessment
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Joseph Spradlin, first systematic application of verbal behavior to
language assessment and intervention for the developmentally
disabled
“The Parsons Language Sample” (Spradlin, 1963) used Skinner’s
elementary verbal operants (i.e., echoic, mand, tact, intraverbal) as a
framework for language assessment
A Brief History of a
Verbal Behavior Assessment
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During the 1960s and 1970s there were 100s of people who
contributed to the development of Applied Behavior Analysis and
language assessment and intervention for the developmentally
disabled (e.g., Baer, Bailey, Bijou, Englemann, Guess, Hart, Kent,
Lovaas, Lutzker, Risley, Sailor, Sherman, Wolf)
Sidney W. Bijou
Don Baer, Mont Wolf, & Todd Risley
O. Ivar Lovaas
A Brief History of a
Verbal Behavior Assessment
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There were also a number of behavior analysts focusing on
Skinner’s analysis of verbal behavior (e.g., Catania, Cook,
Day, Ferster, Holland, Knapp, MacCorquodale, Michael,
Moore, Pear, Salzinger, Sloane, Spradlin, Vargas, Wood)
A Brief History of a
Verbal Behavior Assessment
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In the mid to late 1970s approximately 50 VB research projects were conducted at the
Kalamazoo Valley Multihandicap Center (KVMC). Most of these projects were presented
at the annual MABA, ABA, & APA conventions
This thematic line of VB research was heavily influenced by the developments in ABA and
VB, and the guidance of Jack Michael
Jerry Shook was the Director of KVMC, and Mark Sundberg was the KVMC Research
Coordinator
Jack Michael was our research advisor
Most of the projects were Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations by students from the
psychology department of Western Michigan University, who had taken Jack Michael’s
verbal behavior class and worked at KVMC
The Purpose of a Language Assessment
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Determine the operant level of a child’s verbal (and related) skills
Compare to the language development of typical children
Identify language acquisition and learning “barriers”
If and where to begin intervention (placement)
Establish IEP goals
Design an individualized curriculum/intervention program
Teaching strategies (e.g., AC, DTT-NET, inclusion, in-home)
Is the intervention program working? Why or why not?
A tool to demonstrate learning, track progress, make changes,
provide outcome measures
Traditional Language Assessment
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Cognitive and/or biological variables seen as the primary sources of control
for verbal responses
Based on the expressive-receptive distinction, mediated by cognitive
processors
Norm referenced and standardized assessments
Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test
Expressive One-word Vocabulary Test
Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence
Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals
Behavioral Language Assessment
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The verbal operant is the functional unit (form and function)
Environmental variables are viewed as the relevant sources of control for verbal
responses, rather than cognitive or biological variables
Each verbal operant involves separate sources of control (independent
variables), thus each must be assessed
Most verbal responses are under multiple sources of control
More complex verbal behavior is comprised of various combinations of the
verbal operants
Speaker and listener as separate repertoires
Criterion-referenced assessment
Problems with the ABLLS
(Partington & Sundberg, 1998)
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A significant improvement over Sundberg, et al, 1979; Sundberg, 1983, 1987, 1990
Too many skills to assess (476)
Just a listing of skills with examples, and a scoring criteria
The ABLLS was not designed to serve as a stand alone product, but it has become
that for a significant number of users
Originally, the ABLLS was designed to accompany the Teaching Language to
Children with Autism book
No content on what constitutes mands, tacts, intraverbals, etc.
No content/text on how to conduct a verbal behavior analysis
Not enough information in the individual cells to explain the skill being assessed
and the relevant sources of control (e.g., noun-verb tacting, mands for information,
multiply controlled intraverbal behavior)
Problems with the ABLLS
(Partington & Sundberg, 1998)
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The information that is in the cells is frequently redundant across cells (e.g., The
task name, objective, and question is often the same)
Much of it is out of developmental sequence (as I see it now)
Core sequence of verbal skills is 24 years old (Sundberg, 1983)
Skills not developmentally balanced out on the grids
No placement system (e.g., when to start IV)
No verbal behavior analysis of language and learning barriers (a major component
of assessment)
Steps in the cells were too small for IEP goals
Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment
and Placement Program:
The VB-MAPP
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Based on Skinner’s (1957) analysis of verbal behavior
Based on typical language development milestones
By identifying milestones, as opposed to a task analysis of
individual skills, the focus can be sharper, and the direction clearer
Field test data from approximately 75 typically developing children
Field test data from over 150 children with autism
The body of empirical research that provides the foundation of
Behavior Analysis
Empirical research on Skinner’s analysis of verbal behavior
Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment
and Placement Program:
The VB-MAPP
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There are four components of the VB-MAPP
The VB-MAPP: Skills Assessment contains 165 verbal behavior
milestones across 3 developmental levels (0-18 mos., 18-30 mos.,
30-48 mos.), and 16 different verbal operants and related skills
The VB-MAPP: Skills Task Analysis provides a further
breakdown of the 16 different skill areas in the form of a checklist
for skills tracking
The VB MAPP: Barriers Assessment examines 22 common
learning and language barriers faced by children with autism
The VB-MAPP: IEP Goals provides over 200 IEP objectives
directly linked to the skills and barriers assessments, and verbal
behavior intervention program (Sundberg, in preparation)
Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment
and Placement Program:
The VB-MAPP Skills Assessment
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The assessment is designed to identify the child’s existing language
and related skills
An assessment should probe a representative sample of a repertoire
Typical verbal milestones can provide the frame for the sample
Typical verbal milestones can help to avoid focusing on only minor
steps
Typical verbal milestones can help to avoid targeting skills for
intervention that are developmentally inappropriate
IEP goals can match the milestones, not individual skills
Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment
and Placement Program:
The VB-MAPP Skills Assessment
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The 16 skills assessed on the VB-MAPP include:
The elementary verbal operants (e.g., echoic, imitation, mand, tact,
intraverbal)
The listener skills
Vocal output
Play and social skills
Visual perceptual skills, and matching-to-sample
Grammatical and syntactical skills
Group and classroom skills
Beginning academic skills
Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment
and Placement Program:
The VB-MAPP Skills Assessment
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The milestones are broken into three developmental levels
Level 1: 0-18 months
Level 2: 18-30 months
Level 3: 30-48 months
The scores for each skill are approximately balanced across each
level
There are 5 items and 5 possible points for each skill area
VB-MAPP Level 1: Tact
VB-MAPPS for
Typically Developing Children
Lisa Hale
Mark L. Sundberg
Rikki Roden
Carl T. Sundberg
Cindy A. Sundberg
VB-MAPPs for
Children with Autism
Mark L. Sundberg
Carl T. Sundberg
Shannon Niedig
Shannon Montano
Kaisa Weathers
Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment
and Placement Program:
Skills Task Analysis
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The milestones can be consider floors in a building, and the task analysis
contains the steps between each floor
There are 165 milestones and approximately 600 total tasks in the VB-MAPP
task analysis
The task analysis form also allows for more detailed skills tracking
Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment
and Placement Program:
The VB-MAPP Barriers Assessment
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It is important to find out what a child can do (The VB-MAPP Skills Assessment), but
also important to know what they can’t do, and analyze why they can’t do it
The VB-MAPP Barriers Assessment is a tool that is designed to identify and score 22
different learning and language acquisition barriers
Once a specific barrier has been identified, a more detailed descriptive and/or functional
analysis of that problem is required
There are many ways that a verbal repertoire or related skill can become defective, and an
individualized analysis will be necessary to determine what the nature of the problem is
for a specific child, and what intervention program might be appropriate
Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment
and Placement Program:
The VB-MAPP Barriers Assessment
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Common Learning and Language Acquisition Barriers
Instructional control (Escape/avoidance)
Behavior problems
Defective mand
Defective tact
Defective motor imitation
Defective echoic (e.g., echolalia)
Defective matching-to-sample
Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment
and Placement Program:
The VB-MAPP Barriers Assessment
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Common Learning and Language Acquisition Barriers
Defective listener repertoires (e.g., LD, LRFFC)
Defective intraverbal
Defective play and social skills
Prompt dependent, long latencies
Scrolling responses
Defective scanning skills
Failure to make conditional discriminations (CDs)
Failure to generalize
Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment
and Placement Program:
The VB-MAPP Barriers Assessment
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Common Learning and Language Acquisition Barriers
Weak or atypical MOs
Response requirements weakens the MO
Self-stimulation
Articulation problems
Obsessive-compulsive behavior
Reinforcement dependent
Does not attend to people/materials
Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment
and Placement Program:
The VB-MAPP Barriers Assessment
Scoring the VB-MAPP Barriers Form
Rate the child on the VB-MAPP Barriers Assessment Form using a Likert-type
scale of 1 to 5
A score of 1 or 2 would indicate that there are no significant barriers, and a
formal intervention plan may not be required.
A score of 3, 4, or 5 would indicate that there is a barrier, that probably should
be addressed as part of the intervention program
For some children the immediate focus of the intervention program is on
removing a particular barrier, rather than language instruction
The most common immediate barriers to remove involve instructional control
problems, or other behavior problems
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Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment
and Placement Program:
The VB-MAPP Barriers Assessment
Defective Verbal Behavior
A descriptive functional analysis of verbal behavior (Skinner, Chap 1)
A behavioral analysis of words, phrases, and sentences emitted by children with
autism
Same basic principles of behavior as nonverbal behavior
What is the source of control?
These sources of control will often reveal that what appears to be a correct response
in form is actually incorrect in function
Might not be the same source of control observed in a typically developing child
(e.g., I have a red shirt on)
Each verbal operant can be susceptible to unwanted sources of control
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Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment
and Placement Program:
The VB-MAPP Barriers Assessment
Defective Verbal Behavior
Defective mands (I want candy. What’s that?)
Defective tacts (Bounce ball, Black car, Under table)
Defective intraverbal responses (Poopies evoked by What do you smell in the
oven?)
The behavior analyst must determine what the correct source of control should
be, and how that source can be established
The functional analysis of verbal behavior is on-going
The failure to conduct such an analysis may result in rote or defective verbal
repertoires that can become difficult to change
This is how behavior analysis is different, this is what we do
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Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment
and Placement Program:
The VB-MAPP Barriers Assessment
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An Analysis of a Defective Mand Repertoire
A substantial number of children with autism have an absent, weak, or defective mand
repertoire
Many of these same children have extensive tact and listener skills, as well as other
elevated scores on the VB-MAPP Skills assessment
Often, under these circumstances it is not uncommon to see the child engage in a tantrum
or some other form of negative behavior as a mand
A word acquired under SD control may not automatically transfer to MO control
This distinction between SD and MO antecedent control is not systematically
incorporated into many of the popular language assessment and intervention programs
designed for children with autism
There are many potential causes of a defective mand repertoire and a functional analysis
is necessary to determine the cause for an individual child
Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment
and Placement Program:
The VB-MAPP Barriers Assessment
Potential causes of an absent, weak, or defective mand repertoire
Mand training is not part of the child’s early language training history
The target response form is too difficult for the child
When a child has no or limited vocal behavior, sign language or PECS has not been tried
The response requirement is too high and weakens the relevant MO
There is no current MO in effect for targeted item (e.g., satiation, weak to begin with)
The response is prompt bound by physical, echoic, imitative, or verbal stimuli
A nonverbal stimulus acquires control of the response and blocks MO control
A verbal stimulus acquires control of the response and blocks MO control
Motivation (MO) does not control the response form
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Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment
and Placement Program:
The VB-MAPP Barriers Assessment
Potential causes of an absent, weak, or defective mand repertoire
The child has weak MOs in general
Free or cheap access to reinforcers without manding
Self-stimulation or obsessive behaviors compete with other MOs
A small group of mands has a strong history of reinforcement (e.g., candy, juice, skittles)
There is a limited availability of established imitative or echoic responses
No variation in captured or contrived MOs
Negative behavior functions as mands
Inappropriate mands become too strong and are intermittently reinforced
The curriculum is poorly sequenced
Fading out the object/nonverbal stimulus too soon
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Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment
and Placement Program:
The VB-MAPP Barriers Assessment
Potential causes of an absent, weak, or defective mand repertoire
A single response topography functions as the mand (e.g., more, please, that)
Can’t establish differential response topographies
Scrolling gets reinforced
Not enough mand trials are provided each day
Poor audience control
Mands only required and reinforced in specific setting
Generalization training is not provided
Verbal information does not function as reinforcement for the child
Manding does not come under the control of natural contingencies
A history of punishment for attempts at manding
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Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment
and Placement Program:
IEP Goals and Placement
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The results of the VB-MAPP Skills and Barriers Assessment
provide guidance for the development for an intervention program
Specific IEP goals are provided for each milestone and barrier
The assessment corresponds with the verbal behavior intervention
program (Sundberg & Partington, 1998; Sundberg, in preparation)
Thank You!
For an electronic version of this
presentation go to:
www.marksundberg.com