Teaching Turkish children to mand for information in the context of tact instruction

Four Turkish-speaking children with autism learned to ask "What is this?" during regular tact drills.

The therapist showed an unknown item, the child asked the question, and the therapist named it. Then the child repeated the name.

Sessions happened at a clinic table. No extra time was added; the question was part of the tact trial.

Every child used the new question with new toys, new adults, and new rooms.

Four weeks later they still asked "What is this?" when they saw something strange.

Carnett et al. (2016) taught kids to ask "Where is it?" with an iPad. Both studies show you can embed wh- questions into simple drills and get broad use.

Hattier et al. (2011) hid toys to make kids ask "Where's [toy]?" They needed an extra step: hiding the item. Koldas et al. skipped that step; the unknown item itself was the trigger.

Cooper et al. (1990) found tact training alone made adults start manding. Koldas builds on this by planning the mand inside the tact trial from the start.

You can fold information mands into the tact lessons you already run. No new block of time, no extra toys to hide. Just hold up something the child does not know and wait. The child learns to ask, gets the name, and you keep rolling with the same trial. Try it next session: swap one known item for a mystery one and prompt "What is this?" once. Fade the prompt and watch the question spread to new places and people.