Verbal Operants is a broader description of the foundational language and communication skills. B.F. Skinner first broke down the verbal operants in his 1957 book. He named six verbal operants: Mand, Tact, Echonic, Intraverbal, Textual, and Transcriptive. That sounds like a lot but it is not nearly as complicated as it sounds.
Let’s look at why we might need different verbal operants. If a child is saying “orange” it could have a wide array of meanings. A child could be labeling the color of an item, asking for an item in that color, asking for the actual fruit to eat, or answering a question that involves either the fruit or the color. Knowing the purpose of the communication allows us to reinforce the communication in the correct manner.
If a child is asking for the fruit “orange” you would want to provide the fruit to reinforce the request. If a child points to an orange car and says “orange” you would want to say “That’s right! That car is orange! If the child is saying that their favorite fruit is orange during a conversation, you could say “Yummy! I like oranges too!” We are just going to focus on the first 4 verbal operants in this blog.
Mand-A mand is a request. This is the first language skill to develop because children are highly motivated to request the items they want. We can use this skill to teach children how to ask for their favorite foods, toys, locations, and more. This is a stepping stone for other verbal operants.
Tact-A tact is a label. This is a way for students to label items and events. This is an important component of acquiring vocabulary. Try working on this in a natural environment. Simply point to different items and ask the child “what is this”. This is an easy way to probe their ability to label items in their environment.
Echoic-When you hear echoic, think “echo”. This is when students repeat what is heard. An example would be when you say hold out a toy dog and say “dog” and they repeat “dog”
Intraverbal-This is a more complex skill. These are our conversational skills. When you ask a student “what do you like to play with” and they say “cars” that is an example of an intraverbal.
If you have any questions, drop a comment! I hope this blog was helpful!