Question 4:
Why is it important to discuss behavioral terminology?

My Answer:
Ambiguity and misunderstanding of ABA terminology has resulted in some surprising statements. The current mixture of procedural names and branding names used in ABA make for some interesting facts. For example, consider the following statements, all of which are true!

• It's possible to follow a no-no-prompt procedure while implementing errorless learning.
• The only difference between Natural Environment Teaching and the Natural Language Paradigm is the name.
• Natural Environment Teaching includes discrete trial teaching.
• Natural Environment Teaching does not include Discrete Trial Teaching.
• It's possible for a child to demonstrate fluency in a skill without being fluent in a skill.

Question 5:
We have already identified two procedures that encapsulate the vast majority of teaching that occurs in behavioral treatment for young children with autism (discrete trial teaching and mand training). Are there variations to these procedures?

There are two kinds of variations to the above procedures: 1) variations that relate to every trial and 2) variations that relate to a series of trials.

Which is more important:

1. teaching a child with autism to ask others to do things for him or
2. teaching a child to do things for himself?

For example, would it be better to teach a 7-year-old child to ask for a bowl, spoon, milk, and cereal for breakfast or would it be better to teach him to get breakfast for himself?

I think requesting trumps learning to complete an activity independently. Recent research in applied behavior analysis also seems to follow this track. For example, in the 2005 replication research of Dr. Lovaas' 1987 study, Dr. Glen Sallows includes the following statement in his description of treatment procedures, "Requesting was taught as early as possible, initially using nonverbal strategies if necessary (e.g., gesturing, signing, or the Picture Exchange Communication System PECS (Bondy & Frost, 1994), in order to reduce frustration (Carr & Durand, 1985) and increase the child's frequency of communicative initiations (Hart & Risley, 1975)."

Sallows, Glen O. & Graupner, Tamlynn D. (2005). American Journal on Mental Retardation, 110 (6), 417-438.

While learning to complete a task (like making breakfast) can improve independence in one area, it may not generalize to other situations. On the other hand, the ability to request has the potential to generalize to a wide variety of situations. Thus, for some children, it can be helpful to practice requesting, even in contrived situations that will later turn into independent skills, in order to focus on this fundamental skill.