This book is a resource for teaching young children with autism, PDD, Down syndrome or other language delays. It contains targets aimed at teaching language to children who have skills in the range of non-verbal to pre-conversational, and provides lists of common and practical language to teach a child.

The Verbal Behavior (VB) approach is a form of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), that is based on B.F. Skinner's analysis of verbal behavior and works particularly well with children with minimal or no speech abilities. In this book Dr. Mary Lynch Barbera draws on her own experiences as a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and also as a parent of a child with autism to explain VB and how to use it. This step-by-step guide provides an abundance of information about how to help children develop better language and speaking skills, and also explains how to teach non-vocal children to use sign language. An entire chapter focuses on ways to reduce problem behavior, and there is also useful information on teaching toileting and other important self-help skills, that would benefit any child. This book will enable parents and professionals unfamiliar with the principles of ABA and VB to get started immediately using the Verbal Behavior approach to teach children with autism and related disorders.

Verbal Behavior Analysis describes newly identified tools to provide verbal capabilities to children who have language delays or who lack language. This book assists teachers and parents in their efforts to help children produce novel and spontaneous verbal functions, acquire language incidentally, and become socially verbal. This book responds to the large demand for effective language development tools for children with no language and severe language delays related to autism and other disabilities by providing practitioners with the means to advance verbal development. Step-by-step protocols describe how to move children from pre-listeners to listeners, non-speakers to speakers, speakers to readers and writers, and from non-social to socially verbal individuals. The procedures are derived from numerous experiments and applications with children in three countries, and are based on Skinner's (1957) theory of language function and on research findings that extended the theory to verbal development. The authors synthesize research published across several different journals, including many new findings, in ways that provide readers with the current state of the science of verbal behavior and its application to children with real needs. While the book emphasizes the vocal production of speech, the procedures are applicable to all forms of language (signs, pictures, voice-generating devices). The book includes an extensive glossary of terms from behavior analysis and verbal behavior analysis. The instructor's manual provides a course outline, quizzes, and protocols for training professionals to use the procedures with fidelity in applied settings. If you are a professor accustomed to receiving review copies, we regret that due to the limited number of appropriate courses we are unable to provide review copies of this title.

The Verbal Behavior (VB) approach is a form of Applied Behavior Analysis that is based on B.F. Skinner's analysis of verbal behaviour. In this book Barbera draws on her experiences as a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and also as a parent of a child with autism to explain VB and how to use it.