Mands for information generalize across establishing operations.
Once you teach a child to ask “Where is it?” for one EO, expect it to generalize to new situations without extra training.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Three preschoolers with autism learned to ask “Where is it?” when a toy was missing.
The team used an interrupted-chain procedure. They started a fun activity, then hid a needed piece.
Teaching happened under one establishing operation (EO). Later, the team tested if the question popped up when new EOs were in place.
What they found
Every child used the question in new situations without extra teaching.
Two kids even asked the question in brand-new ways.
The study showed mands for information can generalize across EOs.
How this fits with other research
Michael (1988) first said the mand is driven by EOs. Jones et al. (2010) now prove that link works in real therapy.
Carr et al. (2003) also taught early speech to autistic preschoolers. They used motor imitation priming, while A et al. used interrupted chains. Both got first words, just with different tricks.
Williams et al. (2006) showed tacts generalize across rooms. A et al. show mands generalize across EOs. Together, they tell us verbal operants travel farther than we used to think.
Why it matters
You can teach one “Where?” question and watch it spread to new missing items. No need to retrain every time. Next session, hide different pieces and let the EO do the work.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The current study extends the literature on teaching mands for information by assessing whether mands generalize across different establishing operations (EOs). Three children with autism were taught to perform multiple behavior chains, 3 of which included a common response (e.g., "Where is the spoon?") used for different purposes. An interrupted-behavior-chain procedure was used to contrive the EO for each mand. After teaching a mand for information under 1 EO, the remaining chains were interrupted to determine whether the mand had generalized to different EOs. For all participants, mands for information generalized across EOs. For 2 participants, a new mand-for-information topography emerged after training.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 2010 · doi:10.1901/jaba.2010.43-381