Increasing opportunities for requesting in classrooms serving children with developmental disabilities.

The authors trained teachers to use three everyday tricks: missing item, broken chain, and delayed help.

They ran the study in special-ed classrooms with kids who had developmental delays.

A multiple-baseline design showed that after teachers used the tricks, students asked for things more often.

Requesting shot up as soon as teachers used the package.

The gains stuck when the team checked weeks later.

Pierce et al. (1994) tried a different FCT route. They taught students to ask for help with a prompt hierarchy. Both studies got more requests and fewer problem behaviors, so the tricks work whether you script the prompt or just set the scene.

Carnett et al. (2020) took the same broken-chain idea but aimed it at "where" questions on a speech tablet. Their kids with autism learned the new mand, proving the tactic travels across topographies and tech.

Robertson et al. (2013) moved the job to parents at home. When moms and dads praised every spontaneous request, problem behavior dropped there too. The classroom trick works at the kitchen table.

You can triple student requests tomorrow without new materials. Hide one puzzle piece, pause mid-chain, or wait five seconds before helping. These natural moments cost nothing and build the manding muscle that cuts problem behavior later.