The Use of Instructive Feedback to Promote Emergent Tact and Intraverbal Control: A Replication
Instructive feedback can create emergent verbal skills, but expect hit-or-miss success across kids and word sets.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Gavidia et al. (2022) tested whether extra comments slipped into mastered listener tasks could spark new tacts and intraverbals in two children with autism. They used a multiple-baseline-across-behaviors design. During each trial the child already knew, the therapist quietly added an instructive feedback statement such as the color or function of the item.
What they found
One child showed emergent tact and intraverbal responses for every stimulus set. The second child only showed the jump for the first set, then gains stopped. Mixed results mean instructive feedback works, but not for every learner or every set of words.
How this fits with other research
Schroeder et al. (2014) ran a similar comparison and also saw mixed patterns across four kids, so variable emergence is not new. Cortez et al. (2020) found steady emergent intraverbals in typically developing preschoolers taught foreign words through tact instruction, showing that population and stimuli matter. Conine et al. (2024) scoping review of 99 emergent-intraverbal studies backs this up: methods differ widely and outcomes rarely track perfectly. The 2022 replication therefore sharpens the warning that instructive feedback is handy, but not a sure-fire shortcut.
Why it matters
If you use instructive feedback, probe emergent skills after each set and be ready to switch to direct teaching when gains stall. Track data by stimulus set and by child so you spot the fade early. This saves therapy minutes and keeps verbal growth moving.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Instructive feedback (IF) involves incorporating additional acquisition targets into skill-acquisition programs. A recent study by Frampton and Shillingsburg (2020) found that IF led to emergent verbal operants with two elementary-aged children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The current study replicated Frampton and Shillingsburg with two children with ASD. Therapists conducted sessions of mastered listener-by-name trials (e.g., “Show me otter,” with pictures of otter, dog, and elephant) with IF statements for features of the target stimuli (e.g., “It lives in rivers.”) embedded during the consequence portion of the trial. We evaluated the acquisition of secondary targets and emergent responses using a concurrent multiple baseline across sets design. We observed increased correct responding for secondary targets and emergent responses for all three sets of stimuli with one participant. The other participant emitted correct responses for secondary targets and emergent operants with the first set but not with the other two sets of stimuli. Results suggested that IF can lead to emergent verbal operants, but the extent of emergence may be idiosyncratic. The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40616-022-00171-y.
The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 2022 · doi:10.1007/s40616-022-00171-y