On the relation between radical behaviorism and the science of verbal behavior.

Grant (1989) wrote a theory paper. It says treat spoken words like button presses. Record them the same way you graph lever hits on a cumulative record.

The paper stays inside Skinner’s radical behaviorism. No mind talk. Just observable sounds under environmental control.

The paper does not give new data. It gives a rule: if you can hear it, you can count it. Counting lets you see the contingency that keeps the talk going.

Buskist et al. (1988) came first and yelled, "Stop only writing—build products!" Grant (1989) answers, "Fine, here is how to turn the talk itself into product-ready data."

Rusch et al. (1981) already built a staff-training typology that labels tasks as tacts, mands, or intraverbals. Grant (1989) shows you can graph those same operants minute-by-minute like a rat’s lever curve.

Connell et al. (2004) later showed Alex the parrot producing tacts and mands. That bird data looks just like the human verbal streams S tells us to record—same operants, same graph paper.

Next time you run mand training, don’t just tally correct responses. Graph every vocalization across time. The slope tells you if the reinforcer is working, the same way a cumulative record tells you if the pellet schedule is holding. You get an instant visual that parents and teachers can read without jargon.