Behavior analysis and aphasia: A current appraisal and suggestions for the future
Aphasia rehab is a live testing ground where BCBAs can both help stroke survivors speak again and prove what Skinner’s verbal operants really do.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Becker and colleagues read every paper they could find on aphasia and behavior analysis. They wanted to see how Skinner’s verbal operants could guide rehab after stroke or brain injury.
The team looked at speech-language studies, behavior journals, and neuro-rehab reports. They focused on adults who lost language after damage to the left side of the brain.
What they found
Almost no one is using behavior-analytic tools in aphasia clinics. Speech pathologists rarely track mands, tacts, or intraverbals as separate classes.
The review shows that brain-injured adults could be the perfect human lab. Their damaged brains let us test how verbal operants really split apart or stick together.
How this fits with other research
Hake (1982) already told us to study human verbal behavior instead of pigeons. Becker et al. answer that call by pointing to aphasia wards full of ready participants.
Fryling (2017) warns that verbal operants may not be as separate as Skinner thought. Becker’s group agrees and says aphasia cases give a real-world way to check independence.
Shafer (1993) showed how to pick AAC for people with developmental disabilities. Becker widens the lens to adults who once had typical speech but lost it after stroke.
Why it matters
If you run verbal-behavior programs, start partnering with local rehab hospitals. Offer to track mands and tacts during speech sessions. You will give clients finer-grained data and get rare human evidence to sharpen our science.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
AbstractSkinner's Verbal Behavior provided a starting point for understanding and technologically addressing language in a variety of contexts, including language disorders related to acquired brain injury such as aphasia. Subsequent work on verbal behavior in the context of aphasia has been relatively rare despite the sophistication of behavior analytic contributions to its conceptualization and treatment. In this article we discuss conceptualization, assessment, and rehabilitation approaches inside and outside behavior analysis to highlight the significant unrealized potentials that could come from increased behavior analytic involvement. Not only does such work stand to meaningfully contribute to rehabilitative technologies, but the study of natural lines of fracture revealed by brain injury holds a unique potential for testing, validating, and refining the Skinnerian approach to language.
Behavioral Interventions, 2022 · doi:10.1002/bin.1848