Expressive Labelling of Behaviours

Expressive Labelling of Behaviours

In the Expressive Labelling of Behaviours Program, the student is taught to identify behaviours by verbalizing their respective labels. To learn how to expressively label behaviours, the student should possess the same prerequisite skills required for teaching the Expressive Labelling of Objects Program (Chapter 23). To review, the student should have mastered the matching of pictures of the behaviours to be labelled (Chapter 12), the imitation the behaviours to be labelled (Chapter 13), and the receptive identification of these same behaviours (Chapter 18). (Keep in mind that some students acquire expressive labels before receptive labels.) The student should also be able to verbally imitate a variety of action verbs in their gerund form (e.g., 'swimming,' 'running,' 'eating,' 'smiling'). In addition, it is recommended that you begin with words the student learned to imitate with clarity in the Verbal Imitation Program (Chapter 22).

For ease in presentation, the term action labels are used instead of labels of behaviours, and action pictures replaces pictures of behaviours. In all programs requiring the use of physical stimuli, perceptually dissimilar stimuli are likely to facilitate mastery of the discriminations among those stimuli. Therefore, start with action pictures that differ considerably in physical appearance. For example, pictures of a person eating versus a person waving appear to be more distinctive than pictures of a person eating versus a person smiling or pictures of a person waving versus a person clapping. More subtle differences among stimuli (e.g., the difference between smiling and frowning) may be introduced in later stages.

You may begin the Expressive Labelling of Behaviours Program by using 2-D representations (i.e., pictures) of behaviours rather than behaviours performed in vivo (3-D), given the relative ease in presenting 2-D as opposed to 3-D stimuli. Some students, however, master the 3-D format of this program with much less difficulty than the 2-D format. Therefore, if you encounter serious problems when teaching action labels using pictures, switch to 3-D stimuli.

The sequence of steps used to teach this program is identical to the sequence presented in Chapter 23, Expressive Labelling of Objects. The only distinction is that the stimuli used in this program represent actions rather than objects. To illustrate the progression of teaching the student to expressively label behaviours, the action labels 'waving,' 'eating,' and 'sleeping' are used.

► Step 1

Present SD1, which consists of asking, 'What is she (or he) doing?' emphasizing the word 'doing' and displaying a picture of a person waving. Immediately prompt the correct response by stating, 'Waving.' Should the student echo the instruction as part of his response, say the SD in a low volume and immediately present the prompt ('Waving') in a loud voice. If the student continues to echo, merely state, 'Doing,' as the SD and fade in the rest of the question ('What is she') at a later time. Reinforce the student for each correct response. Gradually decrease the volume of the verbal prompt and intermittently probe withholding the prompt altogether. As discussed in the preceding chapter, be sure to remove inadvertent prompts and completely fade partial prompts (e.g., mouthing the word or any part of the word 'waving'). Mass trial SD1 to the criterion of 5 out of 5 or 9 out of 10 unprompted correct responses.

Note that the correct response at this stage in teaching is a one-word response. In later stages (after the student masters several action labels, pronouns, and verbal imitation of phrases), the student may be taught to respond using full sentences (e.g., 'He is waving').

► Step 2

Present SD2, which consists of asking, 'What is he (or she) doing?' (Emphasizing the word 'doing') while displaying a picture of a person eating. Immediately prompt the correct response by loudly stating the action word 'eating.' Reinforce correct responses and systematically fade the use of the verbal prompt. Mass trial SD2 until the criterion of 5 out of 5 or 9 out of 10 unprompted correct responses is met.

► Step 3

Intermix SD1 and SD2 as described in the discrimination learning chapter (Chapter 16). After systematically alternating between SD1 and SD2, intermix these SDs according to the random rotation paradigm. Place mastery at 9 out of 10 or 19 out of 20 unprompted correct responses.

► Step 4

Present SD3, which consists of asking, 'What is he (or she) doing?' (Emphasizing the word 'doing'), while displaying a picture of a person sleeping. Teach SD3 following the same procedures used to teach SD1 and SD2. When the response to SD3 is mastered in mass trials, systematically intermix SD3 with SD1 and then SD3 with SD2 according to the discrimination learning paradigm. Finally, intermix all three SDs. Teach the next 7 to 10 action labels following the same training procedures used in Steps 1 through 4.

Labelling Actions in Vivo

After the student learns to label 15 to 20 actions in the formats described above, move on to teaching the student to label these same actions performed in vivo. Teach the student to respond to the question, 'What am I doing?' Ask this question while you are simultaneously performing the target action. For example, ask the student, 'What am I doing?' and simultaneously wave one hand. The student should be immediately prompted to say, 'Waving.' In this format, the student must attend to the action of a real person rather than a picture of a person. Once one in vivo action is mastered in mass trials, introduce a second action label (e.g., jumping), bring it to mastery in mass trials, and then intermix the labels according to the discrimination learning paradigm. Once mastered, go on to introduce another action label. Because the action labels taught in this format have already been mastered in another format, acquisition of the correct labels should occur relatively quickly, and it is likely that only slight prompting will be needed to achieve mastery.

Generalizing Expressive Labelling of Behaviours

After the student learns to label 10 to 15 actions presented in 2-D form, teach her to label other exemplars of these actions. That is, teach the student to label pictures that depict the same actions but that vary the persons portrayed. For example, after the student learns to label a picture of a girl jumping, teach her to label pictures of a man jumping, a woman jumping, and a boy jumping. Such generalization is important because the student must learn to label a particular action regardless of who performs the action. Similarly, the student must learn to label particular behaviours even though the forms of the behaviours may differ slightly from one picture to the next. Remember to generalize labelling across pictures in magazines, posters, and books. Also generalize across environments by moving out of the treatment room to other rooms of the house. Eventually generalize to environments outside of the house by, for example, labelling pictures in advertisements on store windows or along a street. Keep in mind that distracting stimuli in these new environments may interfere with correct labelling. If this occurs, proceed gradually from relatively simple to more complex contexts.

Describing His Own Behaviours

Begin teaching the student to describe his own behaviours by modelling an action previously mastered in another format of this program. While the student is imitating the action, ask him, 'What are you doing?' The student should then be taught to state the appropriate action label by following the steps presented above. To illustrate an example, say to the student, 'Do this,' while knocking on the table. While the student is knocking, ask him, 'What are you doing?' and immediately prompt his response by saying, 'Knocking.' Repeat the trial and fade the verbal prompt over subsequent trials. If the student has mastered performing the behaviour through the skills taught in Chapter 18, you may instruct the student to engage in the behaviour (e.g., 'Knock') instead of using modelling as a prompt. Note that your instruction may help prompt the correct answer ('Knocking'). Proceed through discrimination training by introducing new behaviours in mass trials, then intermixing these behaviours until random rotation is achieved. Once the student masters labelling your and his own behaviours generalize the labelling across other persons such as parents, grandparents, siblings, and neighbours. Also, generalize across environments.

The pronouns he, she, 1, and you are included in some of the instructions presented in this chapter. There is no evidence that the student understands pronouns at this stage in teaching or that he will acquire the use of pronouns based on the present program (pronouns will be taught in an upcoming manual on advanced programs).

Labelling Actions and Objects in Books

Teach the student to expressively label 15 to 20 different behaviours in 2-D form, then go on to teaching the student to label these same behaviours in picture books. Start with books that have only one person pictured per page. Later, move on to books with two and then three or more persons per page. If there are items on the page that detract the student's attention from the persons performing the target behaviours, initially cover such items or point to the target persons. Systematically fade all prompts while maintaining the student's description of the behaviours. Once this format is mastered, it should be extended to the student describing what she sees (objects and behaviours) in various picture books. This task helps the student develop a prerequisite skill for later and more complex mastery of language (see Chapter 26).

Areas of Difficulty

If the student echoes your question 'What is she doing?' present the question at low volume (as in a whisper) and prompt the correct response quickly and loudly. Provide reinforcement contingent on responding to the prompt and not the question. Over successive trials, gradually increase the volume of the question and decrease the volume of the prompt until the student responds appropriately to the question only.

When you are teaching the student to expressively identify several actions (and object labels) in books, magazines, and the like, the student may demonstrate difficulty scanning a picture to identify only one action. To help remedy this problem, use a homemade poster that initially depicts one action. When the student masters labelling this action, add an object, and then include two actions and one object, and so on. If needed, prompt by pointing to the different items. Fade all prompts and provide reinforcement contingent on the student's labelling an increasing number of items. To further facilitate spontaneity, help the student examine pictures by displaying items in a row, and teach the student to label the items by scanning from left to right. Gradually increase the number of rows. Once the student can label most or all of the items in such a display, gradually remove the prompting effect of the rows.

Some students experience considerable difficulty labelling the actions of persons in vivo. This may occur even if the student previously mastered labelling the actions of 2-D representations of the same persons. A helpful prompt in such a circumstance is to hold a mastered picture of the behaviour in front of you while engaging in the same behaviour, then fading the picture. The student's learning to label actions in vivo may also be facilitated if you stand behind a picture frame while performing the actions to be labelled (e.g., smiling, eating). The use of a picture frame may help the student focus on the relevant stimuli. Such a tactic is a prompt that obviously needs to be faded.

As in all other programs, individual differences become apparent in the Expressive Labelling of Behaviours Program. Over time, you will gain more flexibility and creativity in learning how to deal with the uniqueness displayed by the student.