Ensino de Mandos para Autistas: Revisão Sistemática e Análise da Relação com Nomeação Bidirecional e Incidental após Ensino Intensivo de Tato

Abstract

Applied. Applied Behavior Analysis has sought to develop instructional technologies for teaching verbal behavior, with the mand being the most studied verbal operant. Verbal behavior may be absent or poorly developed in the repertoire of autistic individuals, especially when considering learning in natural environments. Mand training promotes functional communication and reduces interfering behaviors, as demonstrated by the growing body of research on the subject. Although still underexplored, the emergence of generalized mands may be related to the establishment of the integration of listener and speaker repertoires, characterized as the bidirectional naming behavioral relation. Considering gaps identified in both the reviews of mand training and the investigations on the emergence of mands and their relationship with listener-speaker integration, two independent studies were designed. Study 1 consists of a systematic review of 176 studies on mand training for autistic individuals, published up to 2020, aiming to categorize and analyze the relationships among participant profiles, intervention components, and outcomes. Most studies were conducted in school settings, included participants up to 10 years old with pre-existing verbal repertoires. The most frequently used independent variables (IVs) were differential reinforcement and prompting for response emission, manipulation of the motivating operation, and functional communication training. The most frequent dependent variable was item-specific mand. Studies on the emergence of mands without direct training were scarce. Different procedures for mand induction were cataloged, with the presentation of the reinforcer being the most commonly used. Most studies were at least partially effective in promoting mand acquisition. A more detailed analysis of the relationship between participant profiles and the effectiveness of the IVs is recommended. Study 2 investigated the effects of Intensive Tact Instruction (ITI) on the nduction of mands, bidirectional naming (BN- where teaching listener responses results in the emergence of speaker responses, and vice versa), and incidental bidirectional naming (IBNwhere incidental exposure to the names of objects/events results in the emergence of listener and tact responses for those stimuli). It also aimed to analyze potential relationships among these repertoires. ITI involved 100 teaching trials per session for three stimulus sets from five categories, including images of preferred items. Mands, BN, and IBN repertoires were tested before and after ITI for each stimulus set. All participants demonstrated mands; two participants demonstrated both BN and IBN, while one demonstrated BN and the listener component of IBN. The relationship among these repertoires is discussed, as well as the need for more detailed studies on this topic.