Potential benefits of mand programming

• Motivation for communication• Motivation for approaching listeners• Condition listeners as reinforcers• Can be transferred to other operants• Students can learn to respond to echoic and motor

models

Targets before/during/after mands

Before

Calm approach

Attention mand

Wait for opportunity

During

Reference listener

Wait for prompt

Accept prompt

Respond to non-intrusive prompt

Communicate clearly

After

Tolerate delay (and remain attentive)

Tolerate corrections

Learn from corrections

Tolerate “no”

Repair “dumb” listening

But…• “Manding machines”• Scrolling• Learned helplessness

Goldilocks and the 3 “manders”Manding

Too little Just right Too much

Waits for teachers to approach

Spontaneously mands a variety of reinforcers at a good rate

Mands at a very high rate

Prompt dependent Responds to prompts and corrections

Repeats mands multiple times before reinforcement

Very low rate Perseveres during errors or confusion

Intolerant of prompts or corrections

Gives up easily Tolerates delays and “no” Intolerant of delays or “no”

Squeaky wheels• Students who mand too frequently, or too repetitiously, or

without responsiveness to their teacher pose challenges.

• Students who never mand spontaneously are a challenge, as well, but that wheel isn’t “squeaky”….yet…

Brief treatment on the “squeak-less wheels”

• After the first few reinforcer exchanges, sit back and wait for tiny indications that your student wants another reinforcer. These tiny indications are initiations, and you can eventually shape them into attention mands.

More on spontaneity• Stay ready to capture opportunities to reinforce

spontaneous behaviors, and don’t pummel your student with prompts for better responses.

Rhiannon on the way up to the playground

Stacy was doing this…

required mlu Rigid criteria0

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1.5

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3

3.5

4

4.5

We changed Stacy’s instruction to this…

Required mlu Rigid criteria0

0.5

1

1.5

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2.5

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3.5

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How do we treat the “squeaky wheel?”

• Functional Behavior Assessments (FBA’s) are attempts to determine the functions of behaviors. An FBA should show that the behavior is maintained by tangible gain. This will confuse some analysts and teachers, who will say “but I’m giving him the reinforcers”.

The Inventory of Good Learner Repertoires

“Accessing Tangibles” also requires…-Tolerating delays

-Tolerating others being in control of reinforcers (a number of things may challenge a student’s rigid expectations)*

-Tolerating prompts

-Responding to prompts

-Tolerating/fixing others’ confusion

Terry’s quote: “blah, blah, blah”

It comes down to just a few things• Most importantly, even from the first day of mand training,

never reinforce whiney, pushy mands!!!

• (*Yes, there are exceptions to everything, including this strong recommendation, but those are few and I don’t want to confuse you with them.)

Broadly…• Manding is an opportunity for your learner. Make him

prove that he wants to mand. Make him behave well enough to sustain your attention so that he can mand.

• Mands require “listeners”, so you can use your attention as a reinforcer, and you can withdraw it following unwanted behaviors. This is what we’ve done with Cody.

Have no fear• Don’t be afraid to let a mand attempt end in failure.

Loosely, teachers sometimes err by taking more responsibility than their student. Remember, your student is supposed to WANT to mand. It’s in HIS interest.

• If motivation is sufficient, your student will come back to you and try again, and he’ll eventually get it right.

Tantrums can be wonderful!• I’m just over-correcting for the typical teacher fear, or

shame, of evoking student tantrums. If your student has tantrums every day for 6 months, feel free to be ashamed.

• But, a well-treated tantrum results in a student learning better patience in manding, self-calming, and decreases in the future rate of problem behavior

Digging Deeper• Whiney mands are frequently reinforced simply because

the listener doesn’t notice the whining. Frequently, this is because the top priority is vocabulary development.

• Data is generally gathered on words “used”, prompts required, and mand frequency.

Typical Mand DataDate Target +/-/p

8/14/12 Cookie ++++++++++++++++

Music -ppp-ppp+

Up pp++++

Bubbles -+++++++

More Typical Mand DataDate Up Cookie Music

Prompt Level

Full phys.

Model Ind. Full phys.

Model Ind. Full phys.

Model Ind.

Trial 1 + + +

Trial 2 + + +

Trial 3 - + -

Teacher Training

Those 2 data sheets CAN capture:

-rate of each mand

-types of prompts required

-responsiveness to prompts

*Many teachers fail to recognize student non-responsiveness or resistance.

What data would you record?• Steve and Terry video/role play….several failed prompts

and eventual success

Let’s try that data on this sheet…Date Target Found

listener?(Y/N)

+/-/p Calm? (Y/N)

Tolerated Delay?(Y/N)

Calmly corrected teacher confusion? (Y/N)

“cake” Y + Y NA NA

French fries

Y NA Y Y Y

Or, if you prefer…track prompt responsiveness

Opportunity Full physical Partial physical

Model Echoic

1 - (Alberta)

2

3

4

+ = responds well - = fails to respondR = resists or protests

Healthy Mand Instruction• OK, so you know that tantrums are ok, and that you

should gather thorough data on manding. Let’s dive into the teaching.

• Remember that we should be able to use our attention as a reinforcer. That fact binds all of the following teaching strategies…

Tantrum ABC

MO in effect, and listener

available (green light)

Tantrum

Listener becomes

unavailable (red light)

The SAME basic ABC has more applications

MO in effect and listener

available

(green light)

-reaches past listener to

grab reinforcer

-slight whine or bossy tone

-resists a prompt

-say “ooh”, or an equivalent brief “marker”

-look away

-pull reinforcer a little further

away (red light)

Similarly…

-Moderate MO in effect

-listener available

-prompts provided

-little to no responsiveness to

prompt

-listener physically

moves away, and maybe

says something like

“you can try again later”

Inappropriate behaviors end

Listener and reinforcer

unavailable (red light)

Begins to self calm

“That’s better. Chip?” (prompt, and green light)

Cody’s first visit manding data

first 10 middle 10 last 100

2

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8

10

12

14

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18

20

BadGood

Is this instruction correct?• Role plays• 1. • 2. • 3.

The next steps• So, your learner is manding at a nice rate, and doing so

appropriately. Now, you can follow some mands with:

• Contextually-relevant demands (describe Will’s “cheese” sequence, as related to dealing with learner responsiveness)

• “natural” delays

• “no”

Summary and inspiration• As wonderful and critical as mand repertoires are, mands

seem to do more harm than good with some students. If correctly identified, manding problems can be remediated.

• As always, teaching is the solution. You can be the envy of the neighborhood by teaching mands correctly in the first place!