7/28/2011
EXTENDING FUNCTIONAL
COMMUNICATION THROUGH
RELATIONAL FRAMING:
APPLICATIONS OF THE RFT
PARADIGM TO
EDUCATIONAL
Ruth Anne Rehfeldt,CURRICULA
PhD, BCBA-D
Leigh Grannan, Clarissa S. Barnes,
Sadie Lovett, & Brooke Walker
Southern Illinois University
Objectives:
 Provide a brief overview of RFT and its relevance for
educational curricula
 Show how establishing frames of coordination can
promote early reading and related tasks
 Illustrate how basic naming repertoires can be
established
 Highlight instructional protocols for establishing
emergent intraverbals resulting from frames of
coordination, temporal order, and opposition
 Promote the applied utility of deictic frames in
perspective-taking
 Present research conducted to date that has inspired
these protocols
 To contact me after my presentation, text 3OP to
INTRO (46876)
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Rehfeldt & Barnes-Holmes, Eds. (2009)
Inspirational Words
 it would be a mistake to assume that
there is nothing of merit to be found in
(Skinner’s 1957) account from an RFT
(Relational Frame Theory)
perspective…combining Skinner’s work
with RFT will help us to develop a clear
and useful research agenda for the
behavior analytic study of human
language and cognition” (BarnesHolmes et al., 2000, p. 69).
 Needed are economic & efficient
instructional strategies that promote
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BRIEF OVERVIEW OF
RFT
Relational Frame Theory
(Hayes, Barnes-Holmes, & Roche,
 Relating is operant2001)
behavior
 Generalized, overarching, or higher order,
operant class, similar to generalized imitation
 Relating: responding to one event in terms of
another (bigger, smaller, rounder, etc.) =
nonarbitrary relations
 Arbitrarily applicable: a relation brought to bear
on any stimuli encountered in the appropriate
relational context: occurs over the course of
childhood (#s, money, time, etc.)
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What sort of learning history
gives rise to relating?
 Exposure to multiple exemplars across a variety of




contexts
Caregiver differentially reinforces identification of
AND naming of objects (“say car,” “show me car”) IN
A NUMBER OF CONTEXTS
Bidirectional responding is directly reinforced
Symmetrical responding may then emerge w/ novel
stimuli in the right context (“is the same as,”
“Matches,” “which is bigger than,” etc.)
Frame: the relation; the contextually controlled
response; particular kinds of relational responding
(Hayes et al. 2001)
Stimuli are not only related in terms
of equivalence
 A wide variety of relational responses are possible if
relating can be brought under contextual control
 Mutual entailment: responding to one event in terms
of the other (if A is larger than B, B is smaller than A)
 Combinatorial entailment: 2 or more relations train
mutually combine (if A is related to B, B to C, then A
and C are related in that context)
 Transformation of Functions: a function trained to
one member of a relational network will be
transformed with respect to the other stimuli in
accordance with the relation between the stimuli
(see Whelan et al., 2006)
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Evidence for Relating as Higher
Order Operant
 Luciano et al. (2007): showed that MET in




receptive symmetry relations (object/sound)
facilitated emergence of visual-visual
equivalence relations in child 15-23 mos. Of age.
Receptive symmetry emerged at 16 mos.
Visual-visual equivalence emerged following
MET at 19 mos
Naming emerged following MET at 22-23 mos.
see also (Berens & Hayes, 2007)
SAMENESS RELATIONS:
READING/TEXTUAL
BEHAVIOR
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Sidman (1994) Account of Stimulus
Equivalence:
B
Pictures
BD
Picture names
dictated TO
subject
CB
A
BC
AB
AC
Picture printed
names
Picture names
spoken BY
subject
D
CD
C
Sidman, M. (1994). Equivalence Relations and
Behavior: A Research Story. Cambridge, MA:
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Why Important for the Establishment
of Reading Repertoires and In
 2 ComponentsGeneral?
of Reading (De Souza, De
Rose, Domeniconi, 2009)
 Textual Behavior
 Comprehension
 Both components may be established in the
absence of direct instruction
 Means by which stimuli come to be symbolic
for, or refer to, one another
Applications to Reading: (de Souza
et al., 2009)
 How to Expand the Reading Vocabulary and
go beyond the 20 words targeted in early
Sidman studies?
 Use words taught in the first unit as a baseline for
teaching new words in the second unit (teach by
exclusion; McIlvane & Stoddard, 1981)
 Use training words from which recombinations of
the within-syllable units are likely to combine into
novel words (program for recombinative
generalization; Mueller, Olmi, & Saunders, 2000)
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Exclusion Trial:
(bus is mastered)
Control Trial:
“Bus”
“Hat”
Hat
Bus
Bus
Toe
(de Souza et al., 2009, p. 181)
Programming for Recombinative
Generalization:
Training Words:
Generalization Test Words:
pat
pop
pug
mat
mop
mug
Mueller et al., (2000)
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(de Souza et al., 2009)
Rehfeldt, R.A., & Root, S. L. (2005).
Establishing derived requesting skills in
adults
severe
developmental
 Will awith
history
of reinforced
conditional disabilities.
discriminations
(names-pictures; names-text)
JABA,
38, 101-105.
establish derived manding/requesting skills in adults
with severe communication deficits?
 If individuals are taught to request desired items via
picture exchange, and then are taught to relate
those pictures to dictated names and dictated
names to text, will they then use text to request
desired items? (Functionality of text exchange for
adults)
 Will other verbal skills emerge from this history?
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“puzzle”
puzzle
U sed to m and for actual puzzle
Method
 Participants: three adults with severe MR &




little or no functional communication (IQs ≤ 30)
Request training procedure: Picture Exchange
Communication System (PECS) (Frost & Bondy,
1994), Phases 1-3.
Selection of desired items: multiple stimulus
preference assessment w/out replacement
Stimuli: desired items; dictated names (“A”
stimuli), corresponding pictures (“B” stimuli),
corresponding printed words (“C” stimuli)
Design: multiple probe design (Horner & Baer,
1978) across participants
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Preferred Items:
Sam
Participant
Kenny
Carl
Trace
Pizza
Candy
Tape
Sandwich
Mint
Puzzle
Markers
Trace
(Efforts made to ensure
similarity in word length)
Procedure
 Preliminary Testing
 Test Probes:
 Derived relations: B-A – names pictures; C-A – reads words; B-C/C-B
matches words & pictures;
 Derived Mand (uses “C” stimuli – printed words – to request desired
items).
 PECS Training (Phases 1-3)
 Conditional Discrimination Training
 A-B (matches dictated name to correct picture)
 A-C (matches dictated name to correct text)
 Test Probes
 Training & testing conducted in 9 trial blocks; mastery criterion = 8/9 correct
per block; probes presented after ea/ display of mastery
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Matches
Pictures
to Words
1
Matches
Words to
Pictures
1
.89
0.9
Derived
Request
Sam
.89
0.8
First Pre-Test Probes
0.7
0.6
0.5
Names
Pictures
0.4
.33
0.3
Final Post-Test Probes
Reads
Words
.33
.22
.22
0.2
0.1
0
Proportion of Correct Responses
0
0
Matches
Pictures
to Words
Names
Pictures
1
1
Reads
Words
1
.89
0.9
Matches
Words to
Pictures
.89
Derived
Request
Kenny
.89
0.8
0.7
.67
Pretest
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
.22
0.2
.11
0.1
0
0
0
Matches
Pictues
to Words
1
Matches
Words to
Pictures
1
.89
0.9
Carl
Derived
Request
0.8
.67
0.7
0.6
Pretest
Posttest
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
Names
Pictures
0
Reads
Words
.22
.11
0
0
0
Probes
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Rosales, R., & Rehfeldt, R.A. (2007). Contriving
transitive conditioned establishing operations to
establish derived manding skills in adults with
severe developmental disabilities. Journal of
 Will a history of reinforced conditional
Applied
Behavior learning
Analysis,result
40, 105-121.
discrimination
in derived “pure”




mands (under transitive CEO control) for items
needed to complete a chained task?
(Learned EO in which one stimulus increases
reinforcing value of 2nd stimulus – Michael, 1993)
Will other verbal skills emerge?
Participants: 3 individuals with severe or
profound MR; IQ ≤ 36
PECS phases 1-3 (functionality of text exchange
for adults)
Chained Tasks:
“Playing Music”
“Making Kool-Aid”









Pick up pitcher

Pick up Kool-Aid® packet

Open packet completely

Empty packet into pitcher

Pick up water jug

Open water jug

Pour water into pitcher at least ½ full

Place jug back on table

Select spoon from table

Put spoon in pitcher of water

Stir until powder completely dissolves

Remove spoon from pitcher

Pick up lid

Place lid tightly on pitcher

Pick up cup

Pour Kool-Aid® into cup at least ½ full.
Pick up CD player
Open face of CD player
Select CD
Open CD case
Insert CD into CD player
Close CD player
Pick up headphones
Plug headphones into CD
player
 Push “play” button on CD
player.
see also LeBlanc & Dillon, 2009 for
capturing and contriving MOs
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Stimuli A1A2A3
“HEADPHONES”
Stimuli
A1B1C1
Stimuli B1B2B3
“SPOON”
Stimuli
A2B2C2
Stimuli C1C2C3
“CUP”
Stimuli
A3B3C3
Post-Test
Probes
Preference Assessment :
RAISD and MSWO
P.E.C.S Training
& Chained Task
Method
Pre-Test
Probes
Mixed A-B
and A-C
A-C Training
Conditional Discrimination
Training : A-B
Mand Training within
Chained Task
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1
1
Lucy
.89
0.9
0.8
.89
.89
.89
.89
.78
.78
0.7
.67
0.6
.67
.56
0.5
.45
Pre-Test
Post-Test
Maintenance
0.4
0.3
.22
V o cal
R eq u estin g
P e rc e n ta g e o f C o rre c t R e sp o n se s p e r T ria l B lo c k
0.2
0.1
0
0
0
1
1
1
Tony
1
.89
0.9
.89
.89
.78
0.8
.89
.78
0.7
0.6
.56
.56
V o cal
R eq u estin g
0.5
.45
0.4
.33
0.3
.23
0.2
0.1
0
0
B-A
C-A
B-C
C-B
Derived Mands
Miguel et al.
(2009)
 Similar
procedure using
activity schedules
 Use this procedure to
establish emergent
picture-text relations,
and then substitute text
in an activity schedule
 Facilitates reading;
appears more “grownup”; approximates adult
schedules and to-do
lists
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SAMENESS RELATIONS:
NAMING
The Naming Hypothesis
(Horne & Lowe, 1996)
What is the Name Relation?

 The Components of Naming:
 1. Listener Behavior: verbal community establishes as




discriminative a speaker’s (caregiver) vocal stimulus
and socially appropriate (listener) behavior (i.e.,
orienting, using conventionally) evoked in the listener
(child).
Child must discriminate speech patterns of others
Caregivers must observe what child is looking at
Caregiver models & differentially reinforces
conventional behavior w/ respect to object
Listener repertoire extends to other physically similar
exemplars
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Components of the Name
Relation,
cont.
 2. Echoic Behavior:
 Reproduction of the verbal responses of others are




differentially reinforced
Caregiver imitate child; child imitates caregiver
*Child eventually responds as listener to own verbal
utterance – now speaker-listener within same skin
Vocal behavior recedes to covert level; may have
automatic conditioned reinforcing properties (Skinner
1957)
Generalizes to other exemplars that are physically
similar
Components of the Name
Relation, cont.
 3: Naming
 Objects develop functional control over behavior
 Tacting: response that shares a point-to-point
correspondence with the antecedent stimulus and
is maintained by generalized conditioned rft
(Skinner, 1957).
 Naming: Objects are then discriminative for
tacting AND listener behavior – a bidirectional
relation between objects & speaker-listener
behavior that they occasion (Horne & Lowe, 199)
 Extends to other exemplars of the class
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Naming as a Higher Order
Relation
 After so many exemplars in which listener,
echoic, and tacting behaviors are reinforced,
a child need only hear a caregiver name a
novel object a few times before the name
relation emerges (Horne & Lowe, 1996)
 Increasingly occur at covert level
 Different hierarchies of naming: Individual
items vs. class/category names
Application to Educational
Curricula:
 Not all children have the history with exemplars
(Miguel
Petursdottir,
2009)
for listener,&
echoic,
and tacting behaviors
 Not efficient (see Horne et al., 2004) to teach
listener training first (Lowe et al., 2002)
 May be more efficient to establish tact repertoire
first
 Intersperse tact and listener trials during
instruction
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Application to Educational
Curricula:
1. Prerequisites:
(Miguel
&echoic
Petursdottir, 2009)
Generalized
A number of basic tacts and listener relations for
same items
Instructional control over those skills
2. Tact Training
3. Listener Test for Stimuli Used in Tact Training
4. Multiple exemplar training and testing: train one
listener behavior for a stimulus reliably tacted at a
time, test for listener behavior, etc.
Rosales, R., Rehfeldt, R. A., & Lovett, S. (in press).
An Evaluation of Multiple Exemplar Training on the
Emergence of Derived Relations in Preschool
Children Learning
a Second
Language.
The
 Application
of derived
stimulus
relations
Analysis of
Behavior.
protocol
toVerbal
Spanish-speaking
pre-school
children learning English as a second
language
 Will multiple exemplar training facilitate the
emergence of simple English picture-name
relations in young children?
 Teach A-B (listener training w/4 objects
using Eng.name)
 Test B-A (speaker/oral naming of objects
using Engl. Name)
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Implications for Practitioners
 MET of speaker and listener skills seems to
mirror what happens when a child becomes a
speaker & listener within the same skin
(Greer, 2005)
 Importance of training parents to provide
MET
 Small group instruction: More advanced
learners can learn from observing other
children model some of the skills
42
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SAMENESS RELATIONS &
EMERGENT INTRAVERBALS
Emergent Intraverbals via
Relational Responding (Sameness)
 Will the following instructional
sequence produce derived
intraverbals in children with ASD?
 Tact Stimuli by Individual and
“Function, Feature, & Class”
(FFC) Names
 Sort Stimuli based on FFC
 Will participants answer
questions about items based on
FFC in the absence of
reinforcement?
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Participants
 Two 5 year-old children with autism
 VB-MAPP goals derived from Level 3
curriculum (30 – 48 mos)
• Treatment goals included: responding
intraverbally to WH questions, following
multi-step instructions, following
instructions including prepositions, tacting
with complete sentences, sharing with
peers
Pre/Posttest Probes
 Michael:
 What are four body parts?
 What are four things in the bathroom?
 What are four musical instruments?
 What are four things that take you places?
 Richard:
 What are four vehicles?
 What are four body parts?
 What are four kinds of furniture?
 What are four kinds of clothing?
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Training Stimuli
Michael
Richard
Simple Tact Training
 Each child tacts pictures (9 for each of 4
categories) on 34 out of 36 trials on 2
consecutive sessions
 Instruction “What is it?”
 Target Response: correct name for the
picture depicted in the card (e. g.,
“toothpaste”, “airplane”, “feet”)
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Richard:
Tact Training
Free Template from www.brainybetty.com
7/28/2011
49
FFC Tact Training
 Tacts category name for the 36 pictures (9
for each of 4 categories) 8 out of 9 trials
on 2 consecutive sessions
 Instruction “What is a (picture name)?”
 Target Response: correct category (i. e.,
“things that take you places”, “body parts”,
“musical instruments”, “things in the
bathroom”)
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Sorting by FFC
 Sorts 36 pictures (9 for each of 4
categories) on 34 out of 36 trials on 2
consecutive sessions
51
Michael:
Sorting
Free Template from www.brainybetty.com
7/28/2011
52
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Trial Blocks to Criteria
Trial Blocks to Criteria
Training Phase
Michael
Richard
Simple Tact Training
7
25
Category Tact Training
18
105
Sorting Training
2
2
Total Training Trial Blocks
27
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Intraverbal Categorization
53
Michael
Takes you places
Body Parts
Bathroom
Musical Instruments
10
Pre-Training
9
Post-Training
8
7
6
5
Number of Correct Intraverbal Responses
4
3
2
1
0
1
3
5
7
9
11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 47 49 51 53 55 57 59
Richard
Vehicles
Body Parts
Furniture
Clothing
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
1
3
5
7
9
11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 47 49 51 53 55 57 59
Intraverbal Probes
Free Template
from www.brainybetty.com
7/28/2011
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FRAMES OF TIME
(BEFORE; AFTER):
EMERGENT
INTRAVERBALS
Illinois Early Learning
Standards (K-1)
 Math
 Understand relationships of items and numbers (more
than, less than, the same as)
 Nonstandard measurements (bigger than, smaller than,
the same as)
 Construct a daily schedule (before, after, now, later)
 Science
 Describe items based on senses (smoother than,
rougher than / hotter than, colder than / bigger than,
smaller than, sweeter than)
 Understand weather patterns (warmer than, colder than)
 Understand season patterns (before, after)
 Social Sciences
 Understanding money (more than, less than, the same
as)
 Understand past, present, future (before, after, now)
 Become aware of holidays (before, after)
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Emergent Intraverbals via
Relational Responding (I.
Sameness/Coordination)
 Will the following instructional sequence
produce derived intraverbals in academically
“at risk” 1st graders?
 Tact Stimuli using holiday and month
names
 Sameness: Match Holidays to Months in
which they occur
 Will participants answer questions about in
what months different holidays occur?
Emergent Intraverbals via
Relational Responding (II. Temporal Order)
 Will the following instructional sequence
further produce derived intraverbals in
academically “at risk” 1st graders?
 Temporal Order: Conditionally relate stimuli
(months) in terms of which comes before
and after
 Will participants answer questions about
the temporal order of months?
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Same
After
Before
Coordination Pretest (A-B,
B-A)
Coordination Intraverbal Pretest (AB, B-A)
Coordination Training
(A-B)
Coordination Posttest (A-B,
B-A)
Skip coordination
training if the
participant
scores >90% on
Coordination Intraverbal
the Posttest
pretest (AB, B-A)
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Coordination Testing
Match-toMonth
(B) –
Sample
Holiday (A)
Intraverbal
Holiday (A) –
Month (B)
What
holiday is
in July?
What month is
Halloween in?
Coordination Training
Match-toHoliday
Sample(A) –
Month (B)
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Coordination MTS
Pretest
Temporal Order Testing
Match-toHolidays
Sample
Intraverbal
Months
Is Father’s
day before
or after
Thanksgivi
ng?
Is October
before or after
May?
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Temporal Order Training
Match-toBefore
Sample
After
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Comparison Intraverbal
Pretest
Preliminary Data Coordination
Reese
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FRAMES OF OPPOSITION:
ANTONYMS & SYNONYMS &
EMERGENT INTRAVERBALS
Emergent Intraverbals via
Relational Responding:
A
Same
Opposite
B
C
Opposite
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MTS Task with Pictures
 Trained relations via MTS
 A is the same as B
 A is the opposite of C
 Pretest/Posttest MTS Probes
 B is the opposite of C
 C is the opposite of B
 Will the following instructional sequence
produce derived intraverbals in children with
ASD?
 Tact Stimuli using individual (i.e., river) and
adjective (i.e., “narrow”) names
 Sameness Matching (“put with the same”)
 Opposition Matching (“put with the
opposite”)
 Will participants then answer questions
about opposite and same (“what is the
opposite of narrow?”
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Picture Stimulus Sets
Set
1
A stimuli
Wide River
Wide Bridge
Wide Doorway
B stimuli
Broad River
Broad Bridge
Broad Doorway
C stimuli
Narrow River
Narrow Bridge
Narrow Doorway
2
Rough Seashell
Rough Water
Rough Road
Bumpy Seashell
Bumpy Water
Bumpy Road
Smooth Seashell
Smooth Water
Smooth Water
3
More M&Ms
More Roses
More Pizza Slices
Many M&Ms
Many Roses
Many Pizza Slices
Few M&Ms
Few Roses
Few Pizza Slices
Free Template from www.brainybetty.com
7/28/2011
74
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7/28/2011
Test Probe Data Sheet Sample
Participant: _________________________
Observer:
Sample
_________________________
Primary
Reliability
Date:
____________________________
Phase:
Pretest
Posttest
Session: 1
2
3
4
5
6
Comparison 1
Comparison 2
Comparison 3
Comparison 4
Comparison 5
7
Turn the cue card to “Opposite”. Present each trial as it is indicated on the data sheet with the instruction “Point
to opposite”. Circle the comparison stimulus that the participant selects for each trial. If the participant selects
more than one stimulus circle both on the data sheet, if the participant does not provide a response score NR.
Correct stimuli are indicated on the data sheet in bold. No feedback or error correction should be provided for
test probes.
Trial
Sample
Stimulus
Comparison
1
Comparison
2
Comparison
3
Comparison
4
Comparison
5
1
B1
C1
X
A1
X
X
NR
2
C1
B1
X
A1
X
X
NR
3
B7
C7
X
A7
X
X
NR
4
B5
X
X
C5
X
A5
NR
5
B4
C4
X
A4
X
X
NR
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Pretest/Posttest Probes: Derived
Intraverbal Responding
 Derived Relations Tests:
 B to A (“What’s the same as broad?”)
 B to C (“What’s the opposite of broad?”)
 C to B (“What are opposites of narrow?”)
Sample Data Sheet
Trial
Instruction
Relation
Response
C-A Many
+
−
NR
C-B More
+
−
NR
B-C Narrow
+
−
NR
C-A Rough
+
−
NR
C-B Bumpy
+
−
NR
B - What is opposite of More?
B-C Few
+
−
NR
5
B - What is the same as Broad?
B-A Wide
+
−
NR
6
B - What is the opposite of Bumpy?
B-C Smooth
+
−
NR
1
C - What are opposites of Few?
2
B - What is the opposite of Broad?
3
C - What are opposites of Smooth?
4
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Pilot Participant
 Pilot Study
 6 year-old child with PDD-NOS
 Age equivalent for his total language
score on the Preschool Language Scale4th edition (PLS-4) was 5-years, 3-months
 Is currently requiring multiple exemplar
instruction on sameness/opposite
matching and intraverbals. Stay tuned.
Free Template from www.brainybetty.com
7/28/2011
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DEICTIC FRAMES:
PERSPECTIVE-TAKING
RFT Analysis of Perspective-Taking
› RFT posits a # of relations in addition to
›
›
›
›
›
›
SAMENESS (opposition, comparison,
deictic)
Perspective-Taking is generalized operant
responding involving “deictic” relations
(cannot be traced to the formal dimensions
of the stimuli (Barnes-Holmes et al., 2001)
Speaker is required to change perspectives
between different references of :
Person (I vs. You);
Place (Here vs. There);
Time (Now vs. Then).
Emerges following a reinforced history of
responding to questions such as:
› “What were you doing THEN”
› “What would you do if you were ME “
› “What will you do when you get THERE”
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McHugh, Barnes-Homes, & BarnesDeveloped comprehensive
“Barnes-Holmes
Protocol:”
Holmes
(2004):

 Three deictic relations of I-You, Here-There, and Now-Then.
› Simple Relations




I-You
Here-There
Now-Then
Example: “I have a red brick and you have a green brick. Which brick do I
have? Which brick do you have?”
› Reversed Relations




I-You
Here-There
Now-Then
Example: “I am sitting here on the red chair and you are sitting there on the
blue chair. If here was there and there was here, which chair would you be
sitting on? Which chair would I be sitting on?
› Double Reversed
 I-You/Here-There
 Here-There/Now-Then
 Example: “Yesterday I was sitting there on the pink couch, today I am sitting
here on the purpole couch. If here was there and there was here and if now
was then and then was now, where would I be sitting then? Where would I
be sitting now?
 Presented in conversational format
 Errors decreased systematically as a function of age of children
Rehfeldt et al., 2007:
Overall Mean Percentage Errors ASD
vs Age-matchedControls
2X3 Mixed ANOVA
(Group by
Relation)
 Main effect of
relational
complexity; Wilk’s
λ, F (2, 15) =
12.870, p = .001
 Pairwise
Comparisons
showed sig.
differences btw
simple and
reversed with more
errors on reversed
(p < .001)
Near significant
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Davlin, Rehfeldt, & Lovett (in
press) targeting the
 Created a new protocol
same frames and relations as the
McHugh & Rehfeldt et al. studies
MORE NATURALISTICALLY
 Children’s books were selected and
read by the experimenter to create the
perspective-taking task
 Would MET facilitate emergence of
novel deictic relations?
 Used multiple probe design
Pre and Posttest Probes
 15 trials assessing simple relations
 11 trials assessing reversed relations
 11 trials assessing double reversed
relations
 Completed before and after training
 No feedback was provided
 Reinforcement provided for good working,
attending, and listening to adult instruction
after 3 trials
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Pre and Posttest Protocol
SIMPLE RELATIONS
CINDERELLA
I-Character
You are reading books with me, Cinderella is doing chores. (pg 2)
What are you doing? (Reading books)
What is Cinderella doing? (Chores)
REVERSED RELATIONS
THE BEST TEA PARTY EVER
Now-Then
Sarina is at the store, earlier you were at home. If now was then and then was now. (pg. 3)
Where were you then? (At the store)
Where is she now? (At home)
DOUBLE REVERSED RELATIONS
LOLA AT THE LIBRARY
I-Character/ Now-Then
You are waiting for recess now, earlier you were at home sleeping; Lola gave back books earlier, now she is looking
for more books. (pg 8)
If you were Lola and now was then what would you be doing? (Looking for more books)
If Lola were you and then was now what would Lola be doing? (Sleeping at home)
Training
 15 trials assessing simple relations
 11 trials assessing reversed relations
 11 trials assessing double reversed relations
 Introduced after stability during pre-test
probes
 If participant responded correctly
performance specific feedback was provided
 “Great, if you were Cinderella and Cinderella were
you, you’d be doing chores and she would be
reading.”
 If participant responded incorrectly, error
correction was implemented
 “No, say ----.”
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Training Protocol
SIMPLE RELATIONS
SNOW WHITE
Here-There
You are here at school, the prince in there in the courtyard. (pg. 28)
Where are you? (School)
Where is the prince? (Courtyard)
REVERSED RELATIONS
THE LEAMONADE STAND
I-Character
You are reading books; Jason is selling lemonade. If you were Jason and Jason were you.
(pg. 4)
What are you doing? (Selling lemonade)
What is Jason doing? (Reading books)
DOUBLE REVERSED RELATIONS
WHEN DAD GOT LOST
I-Character/Now-Then
Earlier you were at home sleeping now you are at school reading; now dad is at the store
shopping earlier he was at home. (pg 1)
If you were dad and then was now what would you be doing? (Shopping)
If dad was you and now was then what would he be doing? (At school)
Multiple Probe Design: Percent correct on pre and
posttest scores
100
80
Simple
Reversed
Double Reversed
60
40
20
P1
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
Percentage Correct
100
80
60
40
20
P2
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
100
80
60
40
20
P3
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
Sessions
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More ways to Teach PerspectiveTaking Naturalistically:
Lovett
Investigate
effects of MEI
for teaching
& Rehfeldt,
study
underway
perspective-taking to young adults with highfunctioning autism
 Experiment 1
 Examine generalization to standardized ToM tasks
following MEI
 Experiment 2
 Examine brain activation before and after MEI
Experiment 1
 Adaptation of Barnes-Holmes protocol
 Perspective relations related to:
 Identity (I-you), location (here-there), and time
(now-then)
 Scenarios incorporating real-world interactions
 Integration of SLP tools to enhance face validity
 Social Language Development Scenes for Group
Therapy (LinguiSystems, 2011)
 Enhanced scores on Theory of Mind Inventory
(Lerner et al., 2010)
 Parent-report measure
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Simple I-you
relation
Hannah is afraid because she is getting a shot at the doctor’s office. The nurse is annoyed
because Hannah won’t hold still while she gives her a shot.
How does Hannah feel?
Afraid
Annoyed
Reversed I-you
relation
Hannah is afraid because she is getting a shot at the doctor’s office. The nurse is annoyed
because Hannah won’t hold still while she gives her a shot.
If Hannah were the nurse, how would she feel?
Annoyed
Afraid
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Simple now-then
relation
Before, Katie was feeling helpful because she was doing the dishes with her sister. Now,
Katie is feeling worthless because she accidentally broke a dish.
How did Katie feel then?
Worthless
Helpful
Reversed now-then
relation
Before, Katie was feeling helpful because she was doing the dishes with her sister. Now,
Katie is feeling worthless because she accidentally broke a dish.
If now were then, how would Katie feel now?
Worthless
Helpful
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Simple here-there
relation
Susan is feeling glad because she earned a break here in the reading room. Emily is feeling
disappointed because she hasn’t finished her work, and she is there at her desk.
Where is Emily?
Desk
Reading Room
Reversed here-there
relation
Susan is feeling glad because she earned a break here in the reading room. Emily is feeling
disappointed because she hasn’t finished her work, and she is there at her desk.
If here were there, where would Emily be?
Reading Room
Desk
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Double reversed
I-you/now-then
relation
Now, Hannah is afraid because she is getting a shot at the doctor’s office. Later, Hannah
will be happy because she is going to the ice cream shop. Now, the nurse is annoyed
because Hannah won’t hold still while she gives her a shot. Later, the nurse will be relieved
because she is going to get a massage at the spa.
If Hannah were the nurse and if now were then, how would Hannah feel now?
Afraid
Happy
Annoyed
Relieved
Double reversed
I-you/here-there
relation
There in music class Susan was excited because she finished her work and earned free
time. Susan is feeling glad because she earned a break here in the reading room. There in
the cafeteria Emily was pleased because pizza was being served. Emily is feeling
disappointed because she hasn’t finished her work, and she is here at her desk.
If Susan were Emily and if here were there, how would Susan feel there?
Pleased
Glad
Disappointed
Excited
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Conclusions:
 Need more applied work on RFT and areas of
curricula where it would be useful
 Need more naturalistic approaches for
conducting MET and establishing relating
repertoires (i.e.., parent training, small group
instruction, naturalistic activities)
 Need to coordinate with other approaches
(i.e., Verbal Behavior, DI, PT, etc.)
 To contact me after my presentation, text
3OP to INTRO (46876)
EXTENDING FUNCTIONAL
COMMUNICATION THROUGH
RELATIONAL FRAMING:
APPLICATIONS OF THE RFT
PARADIGM TO
EDUCATIONAL
Ruth Anne Rehfeldt,CURRICULA
PhD, BCBA-D
Leigh Grannan, Clarissa S. Barnes,
Sadie Lovett, & Brooke Walker
Southern Illinois University
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