This guide draws in part from “Invited Speaker: The VB-MAPP Generative Learning Assessment: A Verbal Behavior Approach to Language Generativity” by Andresa De Souza, Ph.D., BCBA-D, LBA (BehaviorLive), and extends it with peer-reviewed research from our library of 27,900+ ABA research articles. Citations, clinical framing, and cross-links below are synthesized by Behaviorist Book Club.
View the original presentation →The Generative Learning Assessment (GLA) is a verbal behavior assessment, associated with the VB-MAPP framework, that measures a learner's capacity for generative or emergent language: new, untaught responses that appear once foundational verbal skills are in place. Instead of counting only directly trained targets, the GLA looks at whether language is beginning to expand on its own.
Generativity refers to novel verbal responses a learner produces without direct teaching of each one. It shows up as recombinative generalization, emergent relations among verbal operants, and flexible use of previously learned words in new combinations.
Generative repertoires are the goal of verbal behavior programming because they let language grow faster than any one-target-at-a-time teaching plan could achieve.
Use the GLA to decide when a learner is ready to shift from intensive tact-by-tact or mand-by-mand teaching toward programming that promotes emergence and recombination. Results help you set goals around generalization, expand multiply controlled verbal behavior, and prioritize teaching procedures, such as matrix training and multiple exemplar instruction, that are designed to produce untaught responses.
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Invited Speaker: The VB-MAPP Generative Learning Assessment: A Verbal Behavior Approach to Language Generativity — Andresa De Souza · 1 BACB General CEUs · $30
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We extended this guide with research from our library — dig into the peer-reviewed studies behind the topic, in plain-English summaries written for BCBAs.
280 research articles with practitioner takeaways
279 research articles with practitioner takeaways
258 research articles with practitioner takeaways
All behavior-analytic intervention is individualized. The information on this page is for educational purposes and does not constitute clinical advice. Treatment decisions should be informed by the best available published research, individualized assessment, and obtained with the informed consent of the client or their legal guardian. Behavior analysts are responsible for practicing within the boundaries of their competence and adhering to the BACB Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts.