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Intraverbals
Intraverbals
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................................1
Prerequisites..........................................................................................................................................1
Licence and disclaimer..........................................................................................................................1
Milestones of intraverbal development......................................................................................................2
Deriving a therapy from stages..................................................................................................................2
Stages of intraverbal development.............................................................................................................3
Stage 1: fill-in obvious information......................................................................................................3
Stage 2: fill-in known information........................................................................................................4
Stage 3: fill-in FFC and association information..................................................................................4
Stage 4: respond What and Where questions with items and FFC.......................................................4
Stage 5: talk about previously observed items, activities and people...................................................5
Stage 6: make related statements...........................................................................................................5
Stage 7: respond What and Where questions upon community information........................................5
Stage 8: give multiple responses...........................................................................................................5
Stage 9: answer Who/Whose questions.................................................................................................6
Stage 10: answer When questions.........................................................................................................6
Stage 11: answer various Wh- questions...............................................................................................6
Stage 12: give explanations...................................................................................................................6
Stage 13: match the whole and the parts of an activity.........................................................................6
Stage 14: answer questions indirectly referring something...................................................................7
Stage 15: answer to questions containing multiple stimuli...................................................................7
Stage 16: describe items and activities..................................................................................................7
Stage 17: answers questions about past or upcoming events................................................................7
Stage 18: maintains a conversation on a topic......................................................................................8
Stage 19: answer novel questions..........................................................................................................8
Stage 20: answer questions concerning current events.........................................................................8
Stage 21: answer questions in group discussions..................................................................................8
Stage 22: share stories and experiences................................................................................................9
Stage 23: spontaneous participation into a conversation.......................................................................9
Intraverbals
Introduction
According to the Verbal Behavior theory of language1, intraverbals are those verbal operands which
are triggered by other verbal stimuli.
Their importance is huge: a conversation is nothing but a long chain of intraverbals while the control of
the verbal exchange passes from one participant to the other and back. Therefore, without intraverbals
we have no conversations and without conversations our ability to speak, no matter how functional,
cannot fulfill its social role.
This document presents possible stages of teaching intraverbals. While not necessarily complete or
exact, we believe this list of stages is useful in designing a Verbal Behavior therapy to induce richer
intraverbal usage. The stages have been extracted mainly from the ABLLS-R test.
Prerequisites
In order to understand this document, it is necessary to understand the basics of the Verbal Behavior
theory of language.
The intend of this document is to get integrated into a verbal behavior therapy. A way to design such a
therapy is to download and read our VBA package2. It is strongly recommended not to use this
document in isolation. Access to the ABLLS-R test is highly recommended.
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Intraverbals
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Intraverbals
Name
Goal
Prerequisites
Components
ABLLS-R
to make sure that the student is able to supply obvious information from the
environment.
Prerequisites: the student must have average receptive skills and a repertoire of natural attributes and
names for common objects and locations.
Components: when the teacher shows a toy truck and says This is a ... the student must complete
truck!. If the teacher shows a red apple and says The color of this apple is ... the
student must complete red!. If the teacher plays a common sound (car honking) and
says This is a ... the student must complete horn!. If the teacher goes with the
student in the kitchen and says We are now in ... the student must complete
kitchen!.
ABLLS-R:
none.
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Intraverbals
to make sure that the student is able to supply known information when the appropriate
context occurs.
Prerequisites: the student must have good receptive skills and he must have a repertoire of known
information rich enough so that he can provide the fill-in.
Components: when a known song is sung, the student must be able to fill-in the missing words. When
a known if-then statement is emitted without the then part, the student must be able
to fill-in the missing part. When the teacher emits a standard and well-known phrases
(like see you later, aligator) without the ending part, the student must be able to
complete the phrase. If the teacher and the student do rote counting together, the student
must be able to continue one or two numbers even if the teacher stops suddenly. When
the teacher emits a phrase evoking a common or animal sounds, the student must be able
to emit the sound upon hearing the phrase. When the teacher evokes common activities
(It time to wash your ...), the student must complete (...hands). When asked basic
social questions (like What's your name), the student must be able to give the
information promptly.
ABLLS-R:
1-6.
to make sure that the student is able to supply collateral information in terms of
functionality, feature, class or association.
7-9, 14-18.
Stage 4: respond What and Where questions with items and FFC
Goal:
to make sure the student is able to answer questions with items or FFC.
10-13.
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Intraverbals
to make sure the student can recall past information and talk about it.
19-21.
22.
to make sure the student responds basic questions regarding community items and
activities.
23-25.
26, 27.
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Intraverbals
28.
to ensure that the student has a sense of time and can express it.
29.
to ensure thaty the student is able to discriminate between various Wh- questions.
30.
Prerequisites: a mean length of at least 4 words for the sentences uttered by the student.
Components: given a certain effect or result the student must give a simple explanation about how that
result occurred. The teacher may ask How and What questions.
ABLLS-R:
31-33.
to ensure that the student is able to perform matching upon events and activities.
34, 35.
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Intraverbals
36, 37.
to ensure that the student is able to respond to questions containing multiple stimuli.
38, 39.
40, 41.
to ensure that the student has an advanced sense of time and can express it.
42.
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Intraverbals
to ensure that the student can maintain a conversation with an adult or a peer.
43.
to ensure that the student listens and understands a question and the answer does not
come from rote memorization.
44.
to ensure that the student can comment upon what is happening or is going to happen
shortly.
45, 46.
Prerequisites: group instructional control, turn-taking basics, basic intraverbals, classroom routine.
Components: the student must be able to act as an active participant in a group discussion which lasts
several tens of minutes.
ABLLS-R:
47.
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Intraverbals
to ensure that the student can bring his own contribution to a verbal exchange.
48.
49.
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