Emergence of verbal responses using instructive feedback: A replication and extension
Tack a quick, novel fact onto the praise in any DTT trial and kids may later say things you never directly taught.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Tullis et al. (2022) slipped extra information into regular DTT trials. While kids worked on their main targets, the therapist added a quick, unprompted fact. The team then checked if the children could later say things they were never directly taught.
They tracked three kinds of answers: the primary target, the secondary fact given as instructive feedback, and brand-new relations that tied the two together.
What they found
Every learner picked up the primary skill and the secondary fact. Two months later the kids still had the extra verbal responses, even though those items had never been drilled.
How this fits with other research
Leaf et al. (2017) did the same thing five years earlier in group DTT with nine children with autism. Both studies show you get free, untaught tact targets when you add instructive feedback. Tullis extends that idea by showing the effect also appears for completely unpresented relations, not just the extra facts you said out loud.
Tassé et al. (2013) and Pérez-González et al. (2007) also found emergent intraverbals, but they used straight tact training or probe-teach cycles. Their positive results line up with Tullis, yet instructive feedback is faster because it piggybacks on trials you already run.
Syriopoulou-Delli et al. (2012) compared error-correction styles and saw mixed, kid-specific outcomes. Tullis kept error correction the same for everyone and still got positive gains, suggesting instructive feedback is a low-risk add-on no matter which correction style you prefer.
Why it matters
You can enlarge a child's verbal repertoire without extra teaching time. Just tack one novel fact onto the consequence of any unmastered trial. Probe later for the primary target, the instructive feedback item, and any related intraverbal you never presented. If the learner emits the new response, you saved yourself an entire program.
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Join Free →Pick one unmastered tact or intraverbal program. During the consequence, add an unprompted related fact (e.g., 'Right, it's a shovel. Construction workers use shovels.'). Probe for that extra response in the next session.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
AbstractFew studies have investigated the potential of instructive feedback (IF) procedures to result in the emergence of novel‐related verbal responses. Furthermore, few studies have directly assessed the role self‐echoic behavior may have in IF procedures. The current replication and extension evaluated the effects of IF procedures during unmastered primary target trials on the emergence of novel verbal responses. All learners acquired primary, secondary, and related, but unpresented, verbal responses, and maintained responding for 2 months. These results extend the IF literature by providing evidence that IF may facilitate the emergence of novel verbal responses during skill acquisition.
Behavioral Interventions, 2022 · doi:10.1002/bin.1836