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 nonintrusive 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…
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
required mlu
Rigid criteria
We changed Stacy’s instruction to this…
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Required mlu
Rigid criteria
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 Data
Date
Target
+/-/p
8/14/12
Cookie
++++++++++++++++
Music
-ppp-ppp+
Up
pp++++
Bubbles
-+++++++
More Typical Mand Data
Date
Up
Cookie
Promp
t Level
Full
Model Ind.
phys.
Trial 1
+
Trial 2
Trial 3
+
-
Full
phys.
Music
Model Ind.
Full
phys.
+
+
+
+
+
Model Ind.
-
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 nonresponsiveness 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
+/-/p
listener?
(Y/N)
Calm? Tolerated Calmly corrected
(Y/N)
Delay?
teacher
(Y/N)
confusion? (Y/N)
“cake”
Y
+
Y
NA
NA
NA
Y
Y
Y
French Y
fries
Or, if you prefer…track prompt
responsiveness
Opportunity
1
Full physical
- (Alberta)
2
3
4
+ = responds well
- = fails to respond
R = resists or protests
Partial
physical
Model
Echoic
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
20
18
16
14
12
Bad
Good
10
8
6
4
2
0
first 10
middle 10
last 10
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!