Establishing verbal repertoires: Toward the application of general case analysis and programming.
Teach verbal skills with a planned mix of speakers, settings, and materials so the words travel anywhere.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Mates (1990) wrote a how-to paper, not an experiment. The authors mapped out a step-by-step plan for using general-case programming to teach verbal skills to people with moderate or severe disabilities.
They explained how to pick teaching examples that span the full range of words, listeners, and places the learner will meet later.
What they found
The paper gives a blueprint, not new data. It tells you to teach with many different speakers, questions, and rooms so the skill travels everywhere.
How this fits with other research
Sprague et al. (1984) had already shown that three vending-machine examples beat single-example teaching. Mates (1990) took that same logic and applied it to talking, reading, and writing.
Milata et al. (2020) later followed the blueprint for debit-card use in teens with autism. They used video clips that sampled many card machines and the kids generalized to new ATMs.
Collier et al. (1986) added a twist: include clear "wrong way" examples. Their students with ID learned to bus untrained cafeteria tables only after seeing what NOT to do. Mates (1990) did not mention negative examples, so later studies filled that gap.
Why it matters
If your client can name colors only with one teacher at the clinic table, you are stuck. Use the general-case recipe: list every person, item, and place the skill should touch, pick a small set that covers the range, and teach those. Rotate teachers, rooms, and materials from day one. The earlier vending and debit-card studies prove the method works; this paper shows you exactly how to do it for language.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
A great deal of clinical and experimental work in past decades has focused on establishing functional verbal repertoires that are used across various settings and situations by persons with moderate and severe disabilities. Such work has not always involved a careful analysis and programming approach for structuring training to achieve the desired range of stimulus control relationships. General case analysis and programming procedures, which are based on behavior analytic and Direct Instruction principles and techniques, have proven effective in recent years for teaching a variety of community-based skills to learners with moderate and severe disabilities. This paper outlines the general case process and discusses its application to establish verbal repertoires.
The Analysis of verbal behavior, 1990 · doi:10.1007/BF03392852