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.

Licence and disclaimer

You are free to read, use, store and copy for personal use this document at no cost. You may not
distribute the document or parts of it to anyone without explicit permission from the author. You may
freely disseminate information on how to obtain a copy of this document.
The information in this document has not been reviewed by any specialist in Verbal Behavior, language
pathology, behaviorism or psychology. You may use the information herein AS IS, with no warranty
expressed or implied. The author of this document makes no claim of suitability of this information for
any purpose and no damage or loss resulted from the usage of this information may be imputed to him.
Any collision of name, terms, titles or meaning with trademarked elements or works protected by
copyright are purely incidental and it may not be interpreted as trademark or copyright infringement in
any way.

1 See Verbal Behavior by B. F. Skinner, APPLETON-CENTURY-CROFTS, Inc, New York.

2 One can find the links to the package by checking the blog at http://mariusfilip.blogspot.com, section FILES.

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 Intraverbals

Milestones of intraverbal development

According to ABLLS-R, intraverbal development may be monitored by a rich set of milestones, from
simple to complex. The simplest milestone is “Fill in words from songs” whereas the most complex is
“Spontaneous conversation”.
When trying to teach a child to speak, it is tempting to simply take the ABLLS-R test, determine the
missed milestones and design exercises targeted specifically for those milestones.
We believe that this approach is not the best. While using the time as efficiently as possible is
important, a child's abilities to speak is more than a sum of skills. It is the entire texture of
communication that is important, not only specific milestones.
Therefore, we believe that it is more important to follow general stages of intraverbal development
rather than specific milestones. The section named Stages of intraverbal development (page 3) lists our
version for these development stages.

Deriving a therapy from stages

It is easy to derive a full-fledged therapy for intraverbals from the stages if one keeps in mind the
following:
• Each stage has one or more corresponding milestones in the ABLLS-R.
• The teacher has to design exercises for each stage that is not fully covered by a student's
abilities. This set of exercises must be much wider in scope than the corresponding milestones
in the ABLLS-R.
• The set of exercises for a certain stage may not contain the corresponding milestones. The
milestones from the ABLLS-R have to be used solely to certify that the student is fulfilling the
stage.
• Stages may overlap.
• Stages with a lower index typically occur earlier than the stages with a higher index.

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 Intraverbals

Stages of intraverbal development

As shown in the previous sections, intraverbals develop in stages. This section lists those stages,
according to our interpretation of ABLLS-R.
Each stage description has the following structure:
• Name it is the name we give to the stage.
• Goal it lists the capability that the stage manifests.
• Prerequisites it lists the abilities that the child needs to fulfill the stage, apart from
fulfilling the previous stage.
• Components it lists examples or instances of manifestations for the capabilities
corresponding to the stage.
• ABLLS-R it lists the corresponding items of the H – Intraverbal area of the
ABLLS-R test.

Stage 1: fill-in obvious information

Goal: 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

Stage 2: fill-in known information

Goal: 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.

Stage 3: fill-in FFC and association information

Goal: to make sure that the student is able to supply collateral information in terms of
functionality, feature, class or association.
Prerequisites: FFC and association skills.
Components: the student must be able to find an object given a function and to find a function given
an object. The same for feature, classes and relations. The same for information which
accept multiple possibilities.
ABLLS-R: 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.
Prerequisites: basic listening comprehension, basic Wh- questions/receptive.
Components: the student must be able to respond to various What and Where questions regarding
immediate objects, images of objects, objects in a certain room as well as the functions,
the features and the classes of objects.
ABLLS-R: 10-13.

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 Intraverbals

Stage 5: talk about previously observed items, activities and people

Goal: to make sure the student can recall past information and talk about it.
Prerequisites: basic memory skills.
Components: given that the student has seen something, he can list items, activities and people
previously seen.
ABLLS-R: 19-21.

Stage 6: make related statements

Goal: to make sure the student can go beyond minimal information.
Prerequisites: tacting of items, actions, attributes, class, etc.
Components: when given a picture, the student is able to emit statements related to the picture other
than naming.
ABLLS-R: 22.

Stage 7: respond What and Where questions upon community information

Goal: to make sure the student responds basic questions regarding community items and
activities.
Prerequisites: tacting of community items and activities.
Components: the student can tell what community items he can identify, what activities he can do or
can be done in the community and where.
ABLLS-R: 23-25.

Stage 8: give multiple responses

Goal: to ensure that the student does not give rote answers.
Prerequisites: tacting common items, tacting classes and categories.
Components: given a topic, the student must give list as many elements as possible (items in a grocery
store, for instance). Also, when given a class, the student must list as many elements in
the class.
ABLLS-R: 26, 27.

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 Intraverbals

Stage 9: answer Who/Whose questions

Goal: to ensure that the student understands and can express belonging.
Prerequisites: tacting common items, tacting people.
Components: given an object, the student must be able to say whom it belongs to. Given an activity,
the student must say who carries the action. Given an attribute, the student must be able
to say who has the attribute.
ABLLS-R: 28.

Stage 10: answer When questions

Goal: to ensure that the student has a sense of time and can express it.
Prerequisites: tacting moments of the day, tacting common actions.
Components: given a common action, the student must be able to tell when it usually takes plase.
ABLLS-R: 29.

Stage 11: answer various Wh- questions

Goal: to ensure thaty the student is able to discriminate between various Wh- questions.
Prerequisites: the previous related stages.
Components: when asked various Wh- questions upon the same or different elements, the student
must respond correctly. This Wh- questions must include Which.
ABLLS-R: 30.

Stage 12: give explanations

Goal: to ensure that the student is able to give simple explanations.
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.

Stage 13: match the whole and the parts of an activity

Goal: to ensure that the student is able to perform matching upon events and activities.
Prerequisites: tacting daily activities.
Components: given a daily activity, the child can describe its parts. Given the parts of an activity, the
child can recognize the activity.
ABLLS-R: 34, 35.

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 Intraverbals

Stage 14: answer questions indirectly referring something

Goal: to ensure that the child can give indirect information.
Prerequisites: FFC, tacting common items, basic intraverbals.
Components: given the feature, functionality and/or class of an object, the student must be able to
name the item. When asked a Yes/No question about a non-present, past or future item
or event, the student must respond correctly.
ABLLS-R: 36, 37.

Stage 15: answer to questions containing multiple stimuli

Goal: to ensure that the student is able to respond to questions containing multiple stimuli.
Prerequisites: basic intreaverbals, basic autoclitics.
Components: given a question with 2 or 3 stimuli, the student is able to give multiple answers.
ABLLS-R: 38, 39.

Stage 16: describe items and activities

Goal: to ensure that the student is able to give descriptions of items or activities.
Prerequisites: tacting, autoclitics.
Components: given an item, the student must give as many FFC details as possible. Given an activity,
the student must be able to give as many details as possible about the activity except the
steps of activity (for example, what precedes or follows the activity).
ABLLS-R: 40, 41.

Stage 17: answers questions about past or upcoming events

Goal: to ensure that the student has an advanced sense of time and can express it.
Prerequisites: tacting time.
Components: given a point in time in the past or in the future, the student must be able to say
something related to that point in time.
ABLLS-R: 42.

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 Intraverbals

Stage 18: maintains a conversation on a topic

Goal: to ensure that the student can maintain a conversation with an adult or a peer.
Prerequisites: basic intraverbals.
Components: given a topic familiar to the student, the student must be able to ask questions and give
answers on the topic.
ABLLS-R: 43.

Stage 19: answer novel questions

Goal: to ensure that the student listens and understands a question and the answer does not
come from rote memorization.
Prerequisites: basic intraverbals.
Components: given a rephrasing of a previous question, the student must be able to give an answer.
Given a totally new question with a known response, the student must be able to give the
answer.
ABLLS-R: 44.

Stage 20: answer questions concerning current events

Goal: to ensure that the student can comment upon what is happening or is going to happen
shortly.
Prerequisites: basic intraverbals, tacting time.
Components: given a current or shortly upcoming event, the student must be able to give multiple
answers about it.
ABLLS-R: 45, 46.

Stage 21: answer questions in group discussions

Goal: to ensure that the student is able to participate in group discussions.
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

Stage 22: share stories and experiences

Goal: to ensure that the student can bring his own contribution to a verbal exchange.
Prerequisites: basic intraverbals, advanced tacting.
Components: when invited to tell a known story, the student must be able to tell the story in his own
terms. When invited to share a personal experience, he should be able to do it.
ABLLS-R: 48.

Stage 23: spontaneous participation into a conversation

Goal: to ensure that the student has the desire to participate to a conversation.
Prerequisites: basic intraverbals, advanced tacting.
Components: when a conversation is ongoing, the student must be able to intervene in the
conversation.
ABLLS-R: 49.

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